Game three was the rubber match, and the pitching match-up was Felix Hernandez for the Mariners, against Hector Santiago for the Angels.
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That was the attitude of Angels manager Mike Scioscia, whose team defeated the Seattle Mariners 3-2 in the bottom of the 10th inning Sunday when Seattle relief pitcher Tom Wilhelmsen uncorked a wild pitch that scored Kole Calhoun with the winning run before 38,387 on a hot and muggy day at Angel Stadium. “We were just grinding all day, and we got it done”. The right-hander has given up four earned runs in 37 innings over his last five starts against Seattle and is 3-0 in those games. After Kole Calhoun singled, Wilhelmsen intentionally walked Mike Trout.
Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon then motioned left fielder Dustin Ackley in for a five-man infield, and Albert Pujols grounded into a 6-2-3 double play started by shortstop Brad Miller.
Santiago, meanwhile, held the Houston Astros to one run on two hits in six innings. With runners on the corners, Richards helped the Mariners out by tossing a wild pitch past catcher Carlos Perez to allow Zunino to sprint home and Morrison to move into scoring position. “”(Wilhelmsen) does have one of the harder changeups, and you have to be able to shift as quickly as you can, one way or another. But the M’s lost that series, and lost the series against the Angels this weekend, to fall to 2-4 on the week. Upstart Taylor Featherston got things rocking and rolling with a single, then advanced on a Johnny Giavotella sac bunt.
The Seattle Mariners will find out if star second baseman Robinson Cano can play Sunday after he was smacked on the left temple as the Los Angeles Angels’ infielders were getting loose for the seventh inning of a 4-2 win Saturday. The homer was Seager’s 12th of the year.
“I’ve been hit in the head before, but I’ve never had anything happen like this”, Cano said.
Fernando Rodney worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings and prolong the inevitable.
“It was scary”, losing pitcher J.A. Happ said. Gutierrez singled to left. The game’s only run to that point scored on Nelson Cruz’s RBI double (VIDEO LINK) in the fourth inning. Seager lined out, and right fielder Mark Trumbo struck out.
Happ (3-5) gave up four runs and seven hits in seven innings and struck out six.
That meant new life after the bullpen squandered six shutout innings by Felix Hernandez by yielding single runs in the seventh and eighth innings. The run was changed to Charlie Furbush, who hit Freese with a pitch to open the inning. Lowe could not do it. Pinch-hitter Erick Aybar looped a single over the head of a drawn-in infield to tie the score at 1-1. Trout also had to face a fan who entered the field in the top of the sixth inning and approached him in center field. He was removed from the game to undergo mandatory concussion protocols required by Major League Baseball. Street, who has converted all but three of his save opportunities this season, was upbeat afterward, citing the ultimate goal of the Angels winning the game.
INJURY REPORT: Aybar was not in the lineup for a second consecutive game because of a left hamstring strain.
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“When you win the game, I do not care [about the homer]”.
