Mariners upend Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Jason Vargas has overcome quite a few hurdles since having hip surgery in March 2008.
The Seattle left-hander reached another bench mark in his comeback Friday night, beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 with 61/3 impressive innings. It was his first victory as a starter since April 13, 2006, with Florida.
“It’s been a while, and it’s a good feeling – especially to do it relatively close to where I’m from,” said Vargas, from nearby Apple Valley.
He came to the Mariners last December in a three-way trade with the New York Mets and Cleveland Indians in which 12 players changed uniforms.
Vargas (2-0) sat out the 2008 season recovering from his surgery, but was confident he would re-establish himself as a big league starter at age 26. After a couple of relief outings, he was inserted into the rotation on May 12 because of an injury to Carlos Silva.
“I didn’t have any question in my mind,” said Vargas, whose three previous starts for the Mariners resulted in no-decisions. “Once we got past the first couple of months and everything was going along as planned, I felt like it was just a matter of time before I was able to be 100 percent and that hopefully somebody would give me a chance. It’s awesome to have an organization and a coaching staff that believes that you can still pitch.”
The Mariners, coming off a 6-1 victory in Oakland on Wednesday, have won consecutive games for the first time since beating Los Angeles on April 24-25 to take a 3 1/2 game lead in the A.L. West. They are 12-20 since that 11-6 start and are six games behind first-place Texas.
Trailing 4-2, the Angels got a run closer in the seventh on Kendry Morales’ RBI single that chased Vargas. But Sean White ended the inning by striking out Howie Kendrick with the potential tying runs at second and third. Mark Lowe pitched a perfect eighth, and David Aardsma got three outs in the ninth for his seventh save.
Ichiro Suzuki was 2 for 5 with an RBI single and extended his hitting streak to 22 games – the third longest of his big league career and three shy of the franchise record he set in 2007. There have been 12 hitting streaks of 20 or more games in Mariners history, and the two-time A.L. batting champ has seven of them.
Angels left fielder Juan Rivera was 3 for 4 with a home run in the fifth inning and robbed Russell Branyan of a home run in the eighth – two pitches before Jose Lopez lofted his fourth home run just beyond Rivera’s reach.
“I knew he was getting close,” Lopez said. “When I saw Rivera jump at the wall, I said, ‘Oh, my God, maybe he’s got a chance to make it.’ He was ready for my flyball, but he didn’t get it. After that, I smiled when he missed the ball.”
Lopez’s fourth homer of the season chased John Lackey (1-1), who gave up five runs and 10 hits over 71/3 innings in his fourth start this season and first at home. The right-hander, who missed the Angels’ first 34 games because of a strained forearm, was 6-0 with a 1.91 ERA and a pair of complete-game shutouts in his previous six starts against the Mariners.
After retiring his first six batters on 20 pitches, Lackey threw 34 in the third inning as Seattle took a 3-0 lead.
Ichiro had an RBI single, Franklin Gutierrez scored on Adrian Beltre’s infield hit with the bases loaded, and Ken Griffey Jr. capped the rally with a sacrifice fly that left fielder Juan Rivera caught in foul territory.
Vargas retired 12 of his first 13 batters before giving up Rivera’s leadoff home run in the fifth. The Mariners, who came in with a major league-low 180 runs, restored their three-run margin in the sixth on Endy Chavez’s sacrifice fly.