Final
Rivera's go-ahead HR helps Angels top Mariners 7-6
Jul 18, 2010 - 5:09 AMVideo
Rivera hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning, Mike Napoli also went deep and the Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 7-6 on Saturday night after blowing a five-run lead against the AL's lowest-scoring team.
Rivera has 11 hits in 31 at-bats over a nine-game span after sitting out the previous six because of blurred vision, which doctors said was stress-related. The home run marked his first RBI since his return to the lineup.
"He's definitely swinging better," manager Mike Scioscia said. "The vision problem was diagnosed quickly and acted on quickly. So I don't think it was a huge issue. He's fine now and he's seeing the ball well. Juan's very important to us. So hopefully, he's going to stay on this course. He usually picks it up in the second half, and he's off to a good start right now."
Brian Sweeney (1-1), working his second inning of relief, retired his first two batters in the seventh before Rivera drove a 1-0 pitch to left-center for his 11th home run and 35th RBI.
Angels left-hander Joe Saunders allowed five runs - four earned - and 10 hits over six innings and left with a 6-5 lead before Kevin Jepsen gave up a tying homer to Josh Bard leading off the seventh.
Jepsen (2-1) pitched one inning for the win, and Brian Fuentes followed Fernando Rodney out of the bullpen with a hitless ninth for his 18th save in 22 attempts.
Torii Hunter was 0 for 4 as the Angels' designated hitter. Reggie Willits started in center field in place of the nine-time Gold Glove winner and hit a two-run single with the bases loaded during a four-run second inning. He also threw out Jack Wilson trying to advance from first to third on Ichiro Suzuki's single with none out in the top of the inning.
"He was being real aggressive, which is something we do a lot," Willits said. "When I saw him coming into second, he was kind of holding up a little bit, so I was thinking that even if he did keep going, I was in a position where I could still get him. I've got a huge hole to fill when Torii's not in center field, so I just try to focus on my defensive game as much as possible."
Ryan Rowland-Smith, who has a 1-9 record, was charged with six runs - five earned - and eight hits over 3 1-3 innings, raising his ERA to 6.18.
In 17 starts this season, Rowland-Smith has left a game leading only three times - and just once since April 17. But this time, his teammates got him off the hook after he departed with a 6-4 deficit.
The Mariners got three in the fourth on an RBI double by Jose Lopez and run-scoring singles by Justin Smoak and Josh Bard. Smoak, who came to the Mariners in a multiplayer trade that sent 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee to Texas on July 9, homered in the seventh off Saunders for his third hit, cutting the Angels' lead to 6-5.
On Friday night, Smoak broke up Jered Weaver's shutout bid with a two-run homer in Seattle's 3-2 loss.
"It was just a terrible pitch," Saunders said. "I had him 2-2 and tried to throw one down in the strike zone, but I threw one right down the middle to him and he hurt me. I still came out of the game with the lead, and I'm happy we won the game. That's all I care about."
After falling behind 1-0 on an unearned run in the second inning, the Angels came back with four runs in the bottom half - two of which also were unearned due to throwing errors by Rowland-Smith and shortstop Jack Wilson.
"It was huge to get some early runs up there and give me a cushion, but I'm mad at myself for giving some of it up," said Saunders, who came in 8-1 with a 2.93 ERA against the Mariners and had won his previous seven decisions against them. "I made some bad pitches. The ball was up a little bit and that's when they hurt me."
Kevin Frandsen tied it with an RBI single, and Willits added a two-run single with the bases loaded after Rowland-Smith fielded Brandon Wood's sacrifice bunt and pulled first baseman Smoak off the bag with his high throw. Wood scored the fourth run when Wilson threw wildly to first, trying to complete an inning-ending double play on Howie Kendrick's grounder to second.
"The four runs in the second inning and the two runs in the third just put us behind too much. But we did a nice job of battling back and we had a chance to win it," manager Don Wakamatsu said. The Angels increased the margin to 6-1 in the third when Napoli hit his 15th homer, and Frandsen followed Rivera's double with one of his own.
NOTES: The Angels (50-44) have reached the 50-win mark with less than 50 losses in each of Scioscia's 10 seasons as manager. The last time they failed to do that was 1999 under Terry Collins, when they needed 121 games to get their 50th victory. ... Suzuki's third-inning single was his 2,150th hit in the major leagues, tying Yogi Berra for 190th place. Only four players have had more career hits against the Angels than Suzuki's total of 239 - Hall of Famers George Brett, Carl Yastrzemski, Cal Ripken Jr. and Paul Molitor.
- Angels 7, Mariners 6 - FINAL
SEATTLE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
I Suzuki rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .321
C Figgins 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .230
F Gutierrez cf 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .259
J Lopez 3b 4 1 2 1 0 0 0 .240
M Bradley dh 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 .206
J Smoak 1b 4 2 3 2 0 1 1 .217
R Lange
Jul 17 11:45 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JUAN RIVERA (11) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 2 OUT
IN THE 7TH OFF BRIAN SWEENEY.
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 6, LA ANGELS 7
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: K FRANDSEN (.297, 2-FOR-3, 2 RBI)
Mariners 6, Angels 7 Bot 7, 0 OutsJul 17 11:12 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JOSH BARD (2) TO RIGHT CENTER WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 7TH OFF KEVIN JEPSEN.
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 6, LA ANGELS 6
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: J WILSON (.256, 1-FOR-2)
Mariners 6, Angels 6 Top 7, 0 OutsJul 17 11:01 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUN BY JUSTIN SMOAK (10) TO LEFT
CENTER WITH 2 OUT IN THE 6TH OFF JOE SAUNDERS.
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 5, LA ANGELS 6
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: R LANGERHANS (.209, 1-FOR-2)
Mariners 5, Angels 6 Top 6, 0 OutsJul 17 10:43 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY JOSH BARD SCORED MILTON BRADLEY
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, J BARD ON FIRST, R LANGERHANS ON SECOND, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 4
LA ANGELS 6 TOP,4TH
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: J WILSON (.258, 1-FOR-1)
Mariners 4, Angels 6 Top 4, 0 OutsJul 17 10:11 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY JUSTIN SMOAK SCORED JOSE LOPEZ
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J SMOAK ON FIRST, M BRADLEY ON SECOND, 0 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 3
LA ANGELS 6 TOP,4TH
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: R LANGERHANS (.214, 1-FOR-1)
Mariners 3, Angels 6 Top 4, 0 OutsJul 17 10:09 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY JOSE LOPEZ SCORED FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J LOPEZ ON SECOND, 0 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 2
LA ANGELS 6 TOP,4TH
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: M BRADLEY (.205, 0-FOR-1)
Mariners 2, Angels 6 Top 4, 0 OutsJul 17 10:05 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY KEVIN FRANDSEN SCORED JUAN RIVERA
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, K FRANDSEN ON SECOND, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 1
LA ANGELS 6 BOTTOM,3RD
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: B WOOD (.171, 0-FOR-0, SAC)
Mariners 1, Angels 6 Bot 3, 0 OutsJul 17 9:58 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY MIKE NAPOLI (15) TO CENTER WITH 1 OUT IN
THE 3RD OFF RYAN ROWLAND-SMITH.
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 1, LA ANGELS 5
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: J RIVERA (.248, 1-FOR-1)
Mariners 1, Angels 5 Bot 3, 0 OutsJul 17 9:56 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
ERROR BY JACK WILSON ALLOWED BRANDON WOOD TO SCORE.
SITUATION: 4 RUNS IN, H KENDRICK ON FIRST, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 1
LA ANGELS 4 BOTTOM,2ND
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: B ABREU (.259, 0-FOR-1)
Mariners 1, Angels 4 Bot 2, 0 OutsJul 17 9:41 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY REGGIE WILLITS SCORED KEVIN FRANDSEN AND JUAN
RIVERA
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, R WILLITS ON FIRST, B WOOD ON SECOND, 0 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 1
LA ANGELS 3 BOTTOM,2ND
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: E AYBAR (.287, 0-FOR-1)
Mariners 1, Angels 3 Bot 2, 0 OutsJul 17 9:37 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY KEVIN FRANDSEN SCORED MIKE NAPOLI
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, K FRANDSEN ON FIRST, J RIVERA ON SECOND, 0 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 1
LA ANGELS 1 BOTTOM,2ND
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: B WOOD (.171, 3 HR, 12 RBI)
Mariners 1, Angels 1 Bot 2, 0 OutsJul 17 9:35 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
ERROR BY HOWIE KENDRICK ALLOWED JUSTIN SMOAK TO SCORE.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, R LANGERHANS ON SECOND, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: SEATTLE 1
LA ANGELS 0 TOP,2ND
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: J BARD (.184, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
Mariners 1, Angels 0 Top 2, 0 OutsJul 17 9:31 PM
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