LDN - Sports

Shoemaker, Angels slow Mariners

[August 19, 2016] ANAHEIM, Calif. -- With only the opportunity to spoil other team's postseason chances at stake, the Los Angeles Angels combined solid starting pitching with timely hitting in an effort to put a bad two-week stretch behind them.

Matt Shoemaker surrendered five hits in seven innings, and Yunel Escobar had three hits and scored two runs as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Seattle Mariners 6-4 at Angel Stadium.

Los Angeles (51-70) won for only the second time in the past 14 games, yet the Angels remain in last place in the American League East, trailing the Oakland Athletics by a game.

The Mariners (64-56) could manage only a split in the four-game series, and they fell three games behind the two AL wild-card leaders, the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles.

Shoemaker (7-13) lowered his ERA to 4.14 with the win, his first in three decisions against Seattle this season. He gave up two runs -- on solo homers by Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz -- walked two and struck out five in a 97-pitch outing.

"Matt was solid tonight for us, he made pitches when he had to," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "Cano and Cruz are two of the top sluggers in the league, but he didn't give Seattle much besides that."

Shoemaker was pleased with his performance.

"Everything was working well for me," Shoemaker said. "The home run pitches were definitely not where I want them, but overall, I was happy."

Seattle lost an opportunity to stay within two games of a wild-card spot despite getting a solid effort from starter Hisashi Iwakuma (14-8). The right-hander allowed six hits and three runs (two earned) over seven innings. He walked one and struck out two.

"I left a slider hanging on the home run to (Jett) Bandy," Iwakuma said through an interpreter. "Other than that, I gave my team a chance to win."

Mariners manager Scott Servais said that his use of his bullpen in the four-game series made it important for his starter to give him some length.

"I knew we would have to extend Iwakuma," Servais said. "He gave us a solid effort, and we didn't help him much by not being sharp in the field tonight."

Seattle cut the margin to 6-4 in the ninth inning on a two-run home run by Mike Zunino, his seventh of the season off reliever Fernando Salas.

The Angels opened the lead to 6-2 with three runs in the eighth. Albert Pujols lined a two-run double after Escobar doubled to lead off the inning and Mike Trout was intentionally walked. Jefry Marte grounded a pinch-hit single to left field three batters later to score Andrelton Simmons to conclude the rally.

The Angels extended their lead to 3-1 on a solo homer by Jett Bandy in the fifth inning. Bandy lined a slider from Iwakuma into the lower left field stands for his eighth home run of the season.

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Angels starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker (52) throws in the third inning against Seattle Mariners at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Cano's 27th home run of the season. Cano hit the first pitch he saw from Shoemaker, a 93 mph four-seam fastball, into the right-center-field stands. Cano has a major-league-leading 10 first-pitch homers this season.

Los Angeles scored two runs, only one of them earned, in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead. Yunel Escobar led off with a single, advanced to second on a walk to Mike Trout and scored when third baseman Kyle Seager committed an error attempting to backhand Pujols' grounder. Simmons followed with a ground single to right field to plate Trout.

Seattle pulled to within 3-2 in the sixth inning on Cruz's team-leading 31st home run of the season. The solo homer came off a 2-2 changeup and landed an estimated 421 feet over the left-center-field fence.

NOTES: Major League Baseball owners voted Thursday to approve the sale of the Mariners' controlling interest from Nintendo of America to a group of minority owners headed by Seattle businessman John Stanton. ... Seattle RHP Hisashi Iwakuma is the only member of the team's Opening Day rotation to make every scheduled start this season. ... Los Angeles 3B Yunel Escobar posted his second five-hit game of 2016 on Wednesday -- the first Angel with two such games since in a season since SS Gary DiSarcina in 1998. Over the last two seasons (2015-16), Escobar has an major-league-best five five-hit games. No one else has more than two. ... RHP Garrett Richards saw Dr. Steve Yoon at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic on Monday for follow up on his ulnar collateral ligament injury, and he was told there was significant improvement. Richards subsequently began a throwing program.

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