Hits come, win doesn’t

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Seattle Mariners, as catcher Josh Bard said after yet another Seattle loss on Saturday, “are past the point of moral victories.”

The Mariners indeed had a few bright spots in their 7-6 defeat to the Angels, in which they battled back from a 6-1 deficit after three innings to tie the score in the seventh on Bard’s homer.

There was newcomer Justin Smoak having another strong game – this time hitting from the right side, his nemesis all season – with a homer, double and single. And there was left-hander Chris Seddon making a snappy Mariners debut by retiring all five batters he faced.

But, bottom line, the Mariners added another defeat to their bulging total. That’s 56 overall in 91 games, 12 in their last 14 games, and 10 out of 12 this season against the Angels.

Juan Rivera’s two-out homer off Brian Sweeney in the seventh turned out to be the winner for the Angels.

“I think at times we get caught up in trying a little too hard,” Bard said. “It seems like every night, we have an opportunity to either execute or not, and right now, we’re not doing that.”

On a night in which Ryan Rowland-Smith had another rough outing (31/3 innings, eight hits, six runs, five earned), manager Don Wakamatsu pinpointed three breakdowns by the Mariners that did them in:

• Jack Wilson getting nailed trying to go first to third with no outs in the third on Ichiro Suzuki’s . Instead of first and second with no outs, the Mariners had one out and Ichiro on first.

“With the ball in front of him, down three, that was a poor decision,” Wakamatsu said. “He was trying to be aggressive, but we were in a good situation first and second with Figgy (Chone Figgins) coming up.

• Rowland-Smith throwing high to first, for one of three Mariners errors, on a sacrifice bunt attempt in the second. That helped open the door for a three-run inning by the Angels.

• Failure to execute an inning-ending double play in the second inning after Figgins made a great stop of a Howie Kendrick grounder up the middle and flipped to Wilson for the force. The relay was in the dirt and kicked away from first baseman Smoak as a run scored.

“With five extra-base hits, it wasn’t the offense’s fault today,” Wakamatsu said. “If you can’t capitalize when you make a run like that, those are the losses that hurt more than anything.”

Smoak, a switch-hitter who had a .139 average (11 for 79) right-handed when he came over from Texas, fueled the comeback. Facing Joe Saunders, the Angels’ southpaw starter, he doubled and scored in the second, had an RBI single in the fourth, and powered his second homer in as many nights over the left-field wall in the sixth.

“I’m a natural right-handed hitter, but I get more at-bats left-handed,” Smoak said. “It’s one of those things where I’m trying to get comfortable against left-handers, and tonight I felt great up there.”

Smoak came up one last time in the eighth after Rivera’s go-ahead homer, with two outs and Jose Lopez on third. Hitting left-handed against righty reliever Fernando Rodney, he struck out.

Seattle	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
I.Suzuki rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.321
Figgins 2b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.230
F.Gutierrez cf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.259
Jo.Lopez 3b	4	1	2	1	0	0	.240
Bradley dh	4	1	1	0	0	1	.206
Smoak 1b	4	2	3	2	0	1	.217
Langerhans lf	3	0	1	0	1	1	.205
J.Bard c	4	1	2	2	0	1	.214
Ja.Wilson ss	4	0	1	0	0	2	.252
Totals	35	6	12	5	1	6

Los Angeles	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
E.Aybar ss	3	0	0	0	0	0	.286
H.Kendrick 2b	4	0	0	0	1	2	.277
B.Abreu rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.259
Tor.Hunter dh	4	0	0	0	0	0	.289
Napoli c	4	2	2	1	0	0	.251
J.Rivera lf	4	3	3	1	0	0	.253
Frandsen 1b	4	1	2	2	0	0	.295
Br.Wood 3b	3	1	0	0	0	2	.168
Willits cf	4	0	2	2	0	1	.250
Totals	34	7	10	6	1	5

Seattle	010	301	100—6	12	3
Los Angeles	042	000	10x—7	10	1

E—Ja.Wilson (8), Rowland-Smith (1), Smoak (5), H.Kendrick (7). LOB—Seattle 3, Los Angeles 7. 2B—F.Gutierrez (13), Jo.Lopez 2 (20), Smoak (11), J.Rivera (14), Frandsen (11). HR—Smoak (10), off J.Saunders; J.Bard (2), off Jepsen; Napoli (15), off Rowland-Smith; J.Rivera (11), off B.Sweeney. RBIs—Jo.Lopez (38), Smoak 2 (38), J.Bard 2 (6), Napoli (38), J.Rivera (35), Frandsen 2 (12), Willits 2 (7). SB—B.Abreu (16). CS—Langerhans (1). S—E.Aybar, Br.Wood. RLISP—Seattle 3 (J.Bard, Ja.Wilson, Smoak); Los Angeles 4 (Tor.Hunter, Willits, Napoli, B.Abreu). GIDP—Figgins, J.Bard, Ja.Wilson. DP—Los Angeles 3 (H.Kendrick, E.Aybar, Frandsen), (E.Aybar, H.Kendrick, Frandsen), (E.Aybar, H.Kendrick, Frandsen).

Seattle	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Rwlnd-Smth	31/3	8	6	5	1	2	64	6.18
Seddon	12/3	0	0	0	0	0	13	0.00
B.Sweeney L, 1-1	12/3	2	1	1	0	1	26	3.68
League	11/3	0	0	0	0	2	23	3.74

Los Angeles	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
J.Saunders	6	10	5	4	0	3	86	4.83
Jepsen W, 2-1 BS, 2-2	1	1	1	1	0	1	16	4.50
Rodney H, 16	1	1	0	0	0	1	10	3.38
Fuentes S, 18-22	1	0	0	0	1	1	14	3.95

IR-S—Seddon 2-0. HBP—by League (E.Aybar). T—2:36. A—42,977 (45,285).