Myers’ Seventh-Inning Blast Foils Mariners

Greg Myers’ two-run, seventh-inning homer snapped a tie and boosted the California Angels to a 7-5 victory over Seattle on Saturday night.

Mitch Williams (1-1), who bailed the Angels out of a two-on, none-out threat after the Mariners had tied the score in the seventh, earned the victory. Lee Smith worked the ninth inning to pick up his fourth save.

Eduardo Perez singled with one out in the seventh off Bob Wells (0-2), who was into his fourth inning of work in relief of starter Tim Davis. Myers, making his first appearance of the season, hit Wells’ first pitch over the right-field fence.

Luis Sojo pulled Seattle into a 5-5 tie with a rare homer, a two-run shot off reliever Russ Springer in the seventh. Sojo’s first homer of the season was his 18th in 1,087 career atbats.

The Angels had fought back from a 3-0 first-inning hole, with Gary DiSarcina’s two-run double in the second inning knotting the score. Damion Easley gave California a 4-3 lead with his RBI single in the fourth.

Davis reeled through 3 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and four runs while walking six.

J.T. Snow gave the Angels a 5-3 lead with a solo homer, his first, in the fifth off Wells.

The Mariners scored three times off California starter Shawn Boskie in the first inning on a solo homer by Ken Griffey Jr., his third, and a tworun shot by Edgar Martinez, his second of the season.

But Boskie, who blanked Toronto for eight innings in his first start of the season last Monday, settled down after that and held the Mariners in check on three more hits through the sixth inning.

Springer relieved him to start the seventh and walked leadoff batter Chad Kreuter before allowing Sojo’s game-tying homer.

Mariner notes

Turns out, the Mariners didn’t wait to re-examine Felix Fermin before deciding whether to bring up Alex Rodriguez.

Fermin, the starting shortstop who strained his right calf muscle Friday night, was sound asleep in the hotel room at 2 a.m. Saturday - which is when Rodriguez was told to catch a morning plane to Anaheim.

Rodriguez did, flying from Edmonton to Calgary and from Calgary to Southern California, arriving just before batting practice.

“I’m ready,” Rodriguez said.

Not so fast, manager Lou Piniella said. Because the 19-year-old Rodriguez was operating on little sleep and had flown most of the day, Piniella started Luis Sojo at short. For probably the last time in the next few weeks.

“We didn’t bring Alex up to sit,” Piniella said.

A re-examination of Fermin on Saturday showed the injury was worse than originally suspected - there’s a slight muscle tear, and he was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Reliever Bill Risley, who came out of the Wednesday game in Texas with a stiff right shoulder, is still experiencing tenderness - and was unavailable to the Mariners Saturday night.

Despite losing by 10-0 and 10-1 scores this season, the Mariners outscored the opposition 48-28 in the first eight games.