Carp’s key double backs Hernandez in M’s win

SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez pitched a five-hitter and Mike Carp hit a two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 2-1 comeback victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night. The loss prevented the Angels from gaining ground on first-place Texas in the AL West. The Rangers, who earlier lost to Tampa Bay 5-1, maintain a 31/2-game lead. Hernandez (13-11), who dueled with Angels starter Dan Haren all night, gave up five hits, walked one and struck out nine in his fifth complete game of the season. At one point, Haren (13-8) retired 15 batters in a row. After a one-out double to Kyle Seager, he didn’t allow another baserunner until Franklin Gutierrez’s one-out single in the seventh. Haren allowed two earned runs, walked one and struck out seven in 7 2-3 innings. The Mariners built a rally in the seventh. With two outs, Seager singled to left and Casper Wells reached on an error by third baseman Alberto Callaspo. That brought up Brendan Ryan with the bases loaded. Haren induced Ryan to hit a one-hopper back to the mound for an easy putout. But Haren could not escape the eighth. With two outs, the Mariners rallied again. Gutierrez singled and Dustin Ackley singled, moving Gutierrez to third and chasing Haren. Scott Downs entered and on a 1-2 pitch, Carp drilled his double against the left-center-field wall. That gave him 25 RBI in August, tying Danny Tartabull for the most for a rookie in any month. Carp also had a game-winning two-run home run Monday to beat the Angels. The Angels’ run came in the third. Mike Trout opened with a single to center. Expecting a low-scoring game, Angels manager Mike Scioscia chose to manufacture a run. He had Jeff Mathis sacrifice Trout to second with bunt. Erick Aybar struck out, giving Hernandez 1,240 career strikeouts. That moved him ahead of Jamie Moyer for second place on the franchise strikeout list. Randy Johnson leads with 2,162. Howie Kendrick followed with a two-out single through the left side. Trout scored without a throw. This was a typical Hernandez-Haren matchup. The right-handers had opposed each other three times previously. Coming in, Hernandez was 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA and 26 strikeouts in his three starts. Haren was 1-1 with a 0.83 ERA and 18 strikeouts. Aybar had a bunt single in the eighth — the team’s major league-leading 34th — to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Ichiro Suzuki went hitless in his four at-bats to end his 13-game hitting streak.