Seattle @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 11, 2010 ) Seattle 4, LA Angels 7

Having roughed up Felix Hernandez on Saturday, the Los Angeles Angels seek their fourth consecutive victory and a three-game series sweep of the Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.

Judging by the results the Angels have had against the Mariners this season, they are likely to earn it.

Los Angeles is 14-4 against Seattle in 2010 after a 7-4 victory Saturday night that was not as close as the final score might indicate.

The Angels led 7-0 before Ichiro Suzuki hit a three-run homer in the eighth off Ervin Santana, who earned his career-high 16th victory. Santana entered the eighth with a three-hit shutout.

Los Angeles, 7-2 against Seattle at home this season, got four RBIs from Torii Hunter and a solo homer from Hideki Matsui to help score seven runs – four earned – against Hernandez, who gave up seven hits and had three walks in 6 1/3 innings.

Hernandez might have seen any last glimmer of his Cy Young candidacy fade away Saturday. He had five strikeouts to retake the major-league lead at 214, three ahead of the Angels’ Jered Weaver. But Hernandez is now just 11-11, and despite being among the leaders in strikeouts and innings pitched, it’s doubtful he can overcome candidates who have much better records.

Hernandez was 0-3 with a 4.13 ERA in his five starts against the Angels this season.

The Angels will try for their first three-game sweep since Aug. 9-11 against Kansas City. They have not won four in a row since winning six straight June 2-7.

The Angels will start Dan Haren (2-4, 3.39 ERA) against Jason Vargas (9-9, 3.72) in Sunday’s series finale.

Haren allowed two runs in seven innings Monday against Cleveland but got a no-decision in the Angels’ 3-2 loss.

He pitched seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against the Mariners on Aug. 31, but still ended up with a loss in the 3-1 decision.

Vargas will try to help the Mariners snap their four-game slide and also try to end his four consecutive losses. Vargas has a 7.23 ERA in his last four starts and gave up five runs on seven hits in just 4 1/3 innings of a 6-2 loss at Oakland on Monday.

Vargas lost 4-2 to the Angels on Sept. 1 when he allowed three runs in seven innings. He is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA against the Angels this season.

Suzuki is 15 hits from his 10th consecutive 200-hit season, a streak that would tie Pete Rose on the all-time list. His homer gave him 2,215 major-league hits as he surpassed another legend in the game, Joe DiMaggio, for 167th on the all-time list.