Angels make it two straight in Seattle
SEATTLE -- This trip to Seattle is turning out much better than the last one for the Angels.
Los Angeles won its second consecutive game on Saturday night, defeating the Seattle Mariners 5-1 after snapping a four-game losing streak the previous night.
The Angels (57-72) are one win from a road sweep after losing all three games of a series last month at Safeco Field just before the All-Star break.
Mike Trout's two-run homer and a 6 1/3-inning, one-run outing from starter Jason Vargas helped the Angels improve to 8-7 against Seattle this season.
Seattle had eight hits but stranded nine runners. The Mariners have been outscored 7-1 in the first two games of the series.
"There wasn't much to talk about offensively," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "We didn't do much."
Trout's first-inning homer and an unearned run in the seventh, which came across when Seattle right fielder Endy Chavez dropped the third out, helped the Angels build a 3-0 lead before the Mariners scored their first run of the series in the seventh.
The Mariners ended a 16-inning scoreless streak after pinch-hitter Nick Franklin's RBI groundout in the bottom of the seventh. Franklin, who had been sidelined with a knee contusion, came on to hit for Brendan Ryan and drove in Humberto Quintero from third base with a ground ball to cut the deficit to 3-1. That came after a Vargas balk moved runners to second and third with no one out.
The Angels' Kole Calhoun drove in a run with an eighth-inning triple and then scored on Chris Nelson's single as Los Angeles extended its lead to 5-1 against Seattle reliever Brandon Maurer.
Seattle starter Erasmo Ramirez (4-1) suffered his first loss of the season despite allowing two earned runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings. After giving up Trout's first-inning homer, he pitched five scoreless innings and then was charged with the unearned run in the seventh.
The Mariners (59-69) fell to 0-2 since Wedge returned from a monthlong layoff that was brought on by a July 22 stroke.
"I've only been back a couple days, but I haven't been impressed with our approach (at the plate)," Wedge said. " ... We're a better team than what we've been here these last couple of nights."
Vargas, a former Mariner, scattered eight hits while allowing one run. Vargas (7-5) has beaten the Mariners in two of his past four starts.
"He got some base runners on him and had to get out of some jams," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Chavez went 3-for-4 and made a nice defensive play to rob the Angels' Hank Conger of a second-inning homer, but he also had the key error to allow an unearned run to score in the seventh.
Trout gave the Angels a 2-0 lead with a one-out, two-run homer in the first inning. Trout hit a 2-2 pitch from Ramirez over the center field fence for his 22nd homer of the season.
The Angels almost took Ramirez deep again in the second when Conger hit a long fly ball over the right field fence but had to settle for an out when Chavez reached over the wall and made a running catch.
Vargas continually pitched out of trouble in the first five innings. Seattle's leadoff batter reached base in three of those innings, but the Mariners ended up stranding six runners as the Angels maintained their 2-0 lead.
Seattle had runners on second and third with two outs in the second and runners on first and third with no outs in the fourth -- only to come away empty on both occasions.
"I was just able to make some pitches when the time came," Vargas said.
NOTES: Angels RHP Kevin Jepsen had an emergency appendectomy on Saturday in Seattle and was subsequently placed on the 15-day disabled list. Manager Mike Scioscia said Jepsen could be out four to six weeks, and it appears likely that the reliever's season is over. ... Los Angeles recalled OF Collin Cowgill from Triple-A Salt Lake to take Jepsen's spot on the roster. Cowgill had been optioned to Salt Lake on Wednesday after hitting .298 in 25 games with the Angels this season.
