Los Angeles @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 30, 2010 ) LA Angels 5, Seattle 3
The Los Angeles Angels got back in the swing of things just in time on Monday night.
The Angels saw their scoreless innings streak reach 31 as Seattle Mariners starter David Pauley blanked them through five frames.
The streak ended quickly in the sixth as leadoff hitter Peter Bourjos sent Pauley’s 1-0 pitch over the center field wall. Two outs later, Bobby Abreu hit his 16th homer of the season to nearly the same spot. After Torii Hunter singled, Hideki Matsui smacked a 3-2 fastball to right for his 17th homer to give Los Angeles a 4-0 lead.
The Angels held off a late charge by the Mariners to record a 5-3 victory.
Matsui has three homers and eight RBIs in six games at Safeco Field. Abreu had been in a 1-for-27 slump before the homer.
With the victory, Los Angeles has won 11 of 14 games against the Mariners in 2010 and is 6-1 at Safeco Field.
The Angels (64-68) will try to continue the streak on Tuesday night when Dan Haren (2-4, 4.02 ERA) squares off against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez (10-10, 2.47 ERA).
Hernandez is second in the American League in ERA, but is 0-2 with a 5.12 ERA in three starts against Los Angeles this season.
In his worst game of the season, Hernandez gave up three homers, eight runs and four walks in 3 1/3 innings in an 8-0 loss at Safeco Field on May 7.
Hernandez has won three of his last four starts with an impressive 40 strikeouts in 30 innings. During the stretch, he has allowed just one earned run with a superb 0.30 ERA. He struck out nine in 7 1/3 innings of a 4-2 victory at the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
He also leads the American League with 204 1/3 innings and is second in strikeouts (192). Those numbers have some believing he still is a viable candidate for the Cy Young Award despite a .500 record.
Haren is the seventh consecutive right-handed starter the Mariners will face.
Haren allowed seven runs in seven innings of a 7-2 loss at the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 20. He gave up one run and three hits while striking out eight in a 12-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.
In 12 career starts against the Mariners, Haren is 6-4 with a 3.01 ERA, but he has not pitched against them since 2007 when he was with the Oakland Athletics.