M’s lose No. 100
Teixeira’s HR puts Seattle in record books
SEATTLE – Mark Teixeira’s home run with two outs in the eighth inning sealed Los Angeles’ comeback 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night as the Angels moved closer to securing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Angels, who trailed 5-2 after five innings, scored three runs in the sixth to tie it. In the eighth, Teixeira, who had four hits, ripped a 2-0 pitch from Mark Lowe (1-5) deep into the seats in right. It was his 13th home run with the Angels and 33rd on the season.
Mike Napoli of the Angels had three hits for the second straight game.
Darren Oliver (7-1) worked two hitless innings for the victory.
Francisco Rodriguez worked the ninth and extended his major league saves record to 62 in a record 69 opportunities.
The fifth use of baseball’s replay policy came in the fifth inning when Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels hit a ball just outside the foul pole in left and third-base umpire Chuck Meriwether immediately called it foul. Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out twice and finally convinced crew chief Tim Welke to review the tape. He took 2 1/2 minutes to confirm it was foul.
Yuniesky Betancourt had three hits for the Mariners (58-100), who lost 100 games for the fourth time in franchise history, but the first time in 25 years. The Mariners have the unfortunate distinction of being the first major league team with a $100 million payroll team to lose 100 games.
Los Angeles (98-60) maintained its edge for home field over Tampa Bay (96-62), which beat Baltimore 11-6. The Angels’ magic number to clinch is three with four games remaining.
The Angels, who have never finished with baseball’s best record, are one short of the franchise record for wins set by the 2002 team that won the World Series.
The Mariners scored three runs in the fifth to lead 5-2 as Jeremy Reed and Bryan LaHair had RBI hits.
Mariners starter Felix Hernandez blew the three-run lead as the Angels got three in the sixth. Two scored on Sean Rodriguez’s double.
Hernandez (9-11) went six innings, allowing a season-high 13 hits and five runs.
Scot Shields found himself in a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth but struck out Ichiro Suzuki and induced Betancourt to ground out.