Jesus Montero’s homer carries Mariners to victory over Angels
SEATTLE – Even after three years, Jesus Montero continues to own Angels right-hander Jered Weaver.
Montero hit a three-run homer Wednesday night that carried the Mariners to a 3-1 victory at Safeco Field – his fifth homer in 12 career at-bats against Weaver.
It mattered little that Montero, before Wednesday, had not faced Weaver since 2012.
Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma (8-4) and the bullpen made it stand up. Iwakuma struck out nine in six innings before handing that two-run lead to reliever Danny Farquhar, who worked a 1-2-3 inning.
Carson Smith ran into trouble in the eighth when singles by Carlos Perez and David Murphy put runners at first and third with one out. Smith escaped by striking out Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout.
Tom Wilhelmsen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save overall and his ninth in nine chances since reclaiming the closer’s role in late August.
The victory enabled the Mariners to salvage a 5-5 homestand and improve to 71-76 with 15 games remaining. They trail Houston by 6 1/2 games for the A.L.’s final wild-card berth.
The game grew testy in the fifth inning after Kyle Seager asked for, and was granted, time by umpire Brian O’Nora. After Seager and Weaver exchanged words, Weaver hit Seager with an 83-mph fastball.
O’Nora immediately ejected Weaver and escorted Seager to first. Seager never made a move toward the mound – neither bench made much of a move – but there were more words.
Weaver (7-11) gave up three runs and six hits in his 4 2/3 innings.
As for Montero’s star turn, it came with two outs in the fourth inning after singles by Nelson Cruz and Seth Smith put runners at first and second. The single by Cruz was his 166th hit of the season, which matched a career high.
Montero followed with a no-doubt drive to left for a three-run homer.
The Angels got their only run on Murphy’s leadoff homer in the sixth.
Earlier, Iwakuma pitched around Carlos Perez’s leadoff double in the third thanks to a nice play by catcher Jesus Sucre.
First, Perez went to third on Ryan Jackson’s sacrifice. The Mariners then shortened their infield and got a grounder to second by Murphy, but the throw home by Robinson Cano was up the line and into the runner.
Sucre made the catch, applied the tag and held the ball after getting jostled.
The Mariners then saw a scoring chance slip away later in the inning on a base-running mistake by Ketel Marte after a one-out single.
Marte appeared to steal second and take third when hit by the throw from Perez – as the ball caromed into the outfield. But Marte never actually touched second. The Angels ran an appeal play before the next pitch. Marte was out.