Seattle @ Los Angeles preview
Angel Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 17, 2010 ) Seattle 6, LA Angels 7
The Seattle Mariners seemed to be giving the American League West-leading Texas Rangers an extra boost when they traded left-hander Cliff Lee to them just before the All-Star break.
The Mariners, though, have not done the Rangers any favors when it comes to the division race.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have won three straight games over the Mariners, moving just 3 ½ games behind the Rangers for the American League West lead.
What’s going to prevent the Angels from completing a four-game sweep of the Mariners on Sunday afternoon? Probably not much. The Mariners (35-56) are just a bad ball club that is on pace to lose 100 games and have not had any answers in trying to beat the Angels this season.
Los Angeles has won eight consecutive games over the Mariners, who have lost 12 of their past 14 and four in a row overall. The schedule gets no easier for them with Chicago and Boston coming to Seattle for back-to-back series.
The Angels have fattened their hitting stats in this series, going 36-for-103 (.350) and scoring 18 runs.
Despite showing some offensive punch Saturday, the Mariners were not able to keep a lead, falling 7-6 to the Angels on Juan Rivera’s two-out homer in the seventh inning.
Justin Smoak, the centerpiece of the Lee trade, was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle Saturday night and homered for the second consecutive game. His power is something the Mariners could have used in April and May when the season was still relevant for them.
In addition to Smoak, left-hander Chris Seddon retired all five batters he faced in 1 2/3 innings of relief on just 13 pitches in his season debut. Seddon is expected to be used in the bullpen, but also could be bucking to replace Ryan Rowland-Smith in the starting rotation. He was 10-4 with a 3.39 ERA for Triple-A Tacoma.
The Angels will look to right-hander Ervin Santana (8-7, 3.76 ERA) to sweep the series.
Santana has lost two straight starts, including 1-0 to the White Sox when he allowed one run on three hits in eight innings.
Santana is 3-1 with a 4.09 ERA in eight career starts against Seattle.
The Mariners close the series with left-hander Jason Vargas (6-4, 3.09). Like Santana, Vargas is coming off a loss despite a strong outing. He allowed one run in seven innings against the New York Yankees but the Mariners fell 3-1.
Vargas has been exceptional against the Angels, going 2-0 with a 2.29 ERA in three starts.
Erick Aybar is 4-for-7 against Vargas this season.