ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)—Jon Garland settled down after a rough third inning, and the Los Angeles Angels’ offense took over from there.
Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Juan Rivera homered to back Garland and help Los Angeles rally for a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
Garland (11-7) allowed nine hits and three runs in seven innings for the Angels, who have won five straight and improved to 6-1 on their eight-game homestand. Francisco Rodriguez came in with runners on first and second and struck out Raul Ibanez for his major league-best 46th save.
The Angels’ bats are making life easy for the team’s pitching staff.
“Lately, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing out there,” Garland said. “They’re showing up, offensively. They’re more relaxed, it looks like. They’re having a lot of fun and enjoying themselves. Things tend to go your way when that happens.”
Los Angeles trailed 3-0 before it rallied for four runs in the fifth inning. Rivera led off with his seventh homer. Jeff Mathis then reached on an error by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and Chone Figgins singled. The runners moved up on Erick Aybar’s sacrifice, and Mathis scored on Mark Teixeira’s groundout.
Guerrero then hit a 1-0 pitch from former Angels starter Jarrod Washburn (5-12) over the wall in left for his 22nd homer, giving Los Angeles a 4-3 lead.
“This is the best I’ve felt all season,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “I think it’s all due to my legs. My strength is back. I’ve been taking care of my knee, doing my exercises and getting the treatment that I need. It’s taken a long time but I’m glad it’s to the point where I feel very strong with my back leg.”
Washburn got Guerrero to fly out to right in the first and struck him out in the third, but made a costly mistake against the slugger in the fifth.
“I threw him some good changeups the first at-bat, he must have been looking for that changeup,” Washburn said. “Everything was working tonight, I just had that one bad inning and one bad pitch really.”
Washburn gave up four runs, one earned, and seven hits in seven innings as Seattle lost its fourth straight.
Anderson hit a two-run drive off Mark Lowe in the Angels’ three-run eighth. Anderson’s 13th homer extended his hitting streak to 17 games.
“That’s a heck of lineup,” Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said. “After you go through them two or three times there’s a chance they’re going to get you.”
Ibanez had a run-scoring groundout, and Adrian Beltre and Jose Lopez hit RBI singles to help Seattle take a 3-0 lead in the third.
Notes
C Mathis was back in the lineup after missing Sunday’s game with an irritated right eye. … Seattle OF Ichiro Suzuki singled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.
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