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Santana continues home dominance as Angels sweep Mariners

Apr 23, 2007 - 12:17 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Ervin Santana wishes he could pitch every game at home.

Santana allowed just one run in seven innings as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim posted a 6-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners to complete a three-game sweep.

The Dominican righthander improved his career home record to 21-5. He helped the Angels win their sixth straight meeting with the Mariners at home and 11th in the last 13 meetings overall.

On the road, Santana is just 9-13 with a 6.78 ERA in 27 road starts. He was rocked for seven runs in four innings in his last start at Boston on Monday.

"I do everything the same no matter if I am on the road or at home," Santana said. "You guys are the one who say I can't pitch on the road, but I just go out and pitch the same game at home and on the road."

Santana allowed a leadoff triple to Raul Ibanez in the second but then retired the next three hitters to escape trouble in a scoreless game. With a 3-0 lead in the fourth, he got out of a one-out bases loaded jam by striking out Richie Sexson and getting Jose Guillen to pop out.

Overall, he allowed just one run and six hits with five strikeouts and one walk in seven innings.

"He (Santana) had real simple stuff and it was effective," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We are playing good baseball with our hitting and solid pitching right now and just have to keep it going."

Pitching on his favorite mound, Santana (2-2) got some run support from Gary Matthews Jr., whose RBI double in the second made it 2-0 and helped send the Mariners spiraling to their season-high sixth straight loss.

"My job as the leadoff hitter is to get on base and make things happen," Matthews said. "I just have to do whatever I can do to set the table up for the guys behind me."

Vladimir Guerrero had two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who had lost six straight games before sweeping the Mariners. Guerrero was 6-for-9 with four RBI in the series.

Adrian Beltre hit solo homer - his third of the season - for the Mariners, who were without catcher Kenji Johjima. He suffered a bruised right calf Saturday when he was hit by a foul tip from Jose Vidro.

"I don't know what it is about playing here but it just seems like we can't walk out of here with a win," Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said.

Meanwhile, Seattle star Ichiro Suzuki went 0-for-4, ending his seven-game hitting streak.

Los Angeles jumped on former Angel Jeff Weaver early, who threw 68 pitches in three innings and allowed three runs and seven hits as he reverted to his early 2006 form.

The Angels then took advantage of pair of errors by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and two wild pitches by reliever Sean White to score two runs in the fifth inning, extending their lead to 5-1. Garret Anderson hit an RBI double in that frame and then had a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the final run.

Weaver (0-3) made his first start against the team that released him after he went just 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA in 2006. The righthander bounced back to help the Cardinals win the World Series and received a one-year, $8.5 million contract from the Mariners.

"I don't know what to say other than I just didn't locate my pitches tonight," Weaver said. "They have a good lineup over there and they know the way I pitch."