Mariners Slug Past California Blowers’ Slam Allows Seattle To Spoil Abbott’s Return, 10-7
Mike Blowers drove in six runs and Andy Benes won his A.L. debut, spoiling Jim Abbott’s return to Anaheim Stadium in a California Angels uniform as the Seattle Mariners beat the A.L. West leaders 10-7 Thursday night.
Blowers, who has 23 RBIs in his last 14 games, hit his fourth career grand slam and 11th homer of the season in the seventh inning to highlight Seattle’s 15-hit attack.
He also had an RBI double and run-scoring single to help snap California’s eight-game winning streak - the longest in the A.L. this season and third-longest in club history. But the Angels remained 11 games ahead of Texas in the standings.
Benes (1-0), traded to the Mariners last Monday night, allowed two runs, six hits and a walk over six innings. The right-hander, who led the N.L. last year in strikeouts and was second this year behind Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers, fanned nine Angels - including three in the first and third innings.
Norm Charlton got the final three outs for his first save.
Pinch-hitter Spike Owen, the only player on the Angels’ roster to have previously faced Benes in a regular-season game, broke up the shutout bid with a bases-loaded two-run single after Seattle built a 5-0 lead.
The Angels rallied from a 10-2 deficit on Jim Edmonds’ three-run homer off Bill Risley in the seventh and an RBI single by Jorge Fabregas. Rex Hudler followed with a ground-rule double off Bobby Ayala, who then hit Tony Phillips to load the bases and empty both benches and bullpens. No punches were thrown before Edmonds ended the inning by grounding out.
Abbott (7-4) returned to the same mound on which he made his big-league debut in 1989 with a 7-0 loss to the Mariners. He won at Milwaukee after rejoining them last week in a trade from the White Sox.
The left-hander was charged with seven runs and 10 hits over six-plus innings as his all-time home record against the Mariners slipped to 0-8. He struck out two and walked two.
Blowers began the Mariners’ scoring by following a pair of two-out walks with a double inside third that drove in Martinez.
Martinez’s RBI double and Jay Buhner’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0 in the third. Blowers singled home another run in the fifth and Felix Fermin’s fly ball delivered Tino Martinez from third base in the sixth.
The Mariners loaded the bases for the second time in the seventh after Blowers’ slam, and Alex Diaz capped the Seattle scoring with an RBI single.
Jim Edmonds hit his 22nd homer in the seventh, the three-run shot off Risley.
Notes
To mark Abbott’s return to Anaheim Stadium, the Angels’ gave souvenir buttons to the first 20,000 fans through the turnstiles. The button said: “Class Reunion - Jim Abbott - 1995” and included the Angels’ logo. … Despite Owen’s familiarity with Benes (6 for 21 over three seasons with Montreal), Angels manager Marcel Lachemann said he would not disrupt a lineup entering the game with a league-leading 560 runs.