Seattle @ Los Angeles preview
Angel Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 10, 2010 ) Seattle 3, LA Angels 4
Your turn, Felix.
One night after Los Angeles Angels ace Jered Weaver recorded six strikeouts in eight strong innings of a no-decision to take over the major-league lead with 211, Seattle’s Felix Hernandez will try to regain the lead.
Hernandez has 209 strikeouts and will start Saturday night’s game against the Angels’ Ervin Santana in a battle of right-handers.
Weaver appeared on the verge of ending his four-game losing streak Friday night, staking the Angels to a 3-1 lead after surrendering just five hits. But closer Fernando Rodney blew the lead, allowing two runs on back-to-back-doubles in the ninth. Bobby Abreu gave the Angels a 4-3 victory in the 14th inning with a home run off Brian Sweeney.
The Angels were coming off a 16-inning victory on Wednesday against the Cleveland Indians.
The 30 innings in consecutive games tied an Angels franchise record set April 13-14, 1982, when they beat the Mariners, 4-3, in 20 innings and 2-1 in 10 frames.
Los Angeles is 13-4 against the Mariners this season.
Hernandez is 11-10, but his 2.30 ERA is second in the majors and some see him as a viable candidate for the Cy Young Award. He finished second to Kansas City Royals hurler Zack Greinke for the honor in 2009.
Hernandez has won three in a row and is 4-1 in his last six starts with a 0.20 ERA. He also has 57 strikeouts in 47 innings.
The Seattle offense scored seven total runs for Hernandez in his 10 losses.
Hernandez has a 3.76 ERA in four games against the Angels this season, but has only been backed by three runs in those games, going 0-2. He also has not won at Angel Stadium since June 11, 2006, his first start there. He is 1-3 in Anaheim overall, with a 3.56 ERA.
Hernandez had nine strikeouts in eight innings of a 3-0 win over Cleveland on Sunday. He has not allowed a run in 16 1/3 innings, including seven shutout innings against the Angels on Aug. 31 when he had eight strikeouts.
Santana (15-9, 4.02) has won seven of his last nine starts - including his previous outing. He allowed two runs in six innings of a 7-4 victory at Oakland on Sunday.
Santana is 2-0 with a 1.74 ERA in his last three starts against the Mariners. He earned a 5-3 victory over them on Aug. 30, giving up two runs in 7 2/3 innings.
In 19 career starts against Seattle, Santana is 8-4 with a 3.90 ERA.
Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki had an infield single Friday and has 184 hits this season. He is attempting to tie Pete Rose’s major-league record of 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons.