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Beltre homers twice as Mariners blast Angels

May 29, 2007 - 5:12 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- It didn't matter to Adrian Beltre that the odds were against the Seattle Mariners.

Beltre's 15th career multiple-home run game highlighted the Mariners' decisive, 12-5, victory against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday.

Richie Sexson and Jose Guillen also homered for the Mariners, who beat the Angels for just the fourth time in their last 17 meetings. In addition to their recent dominance against the Mariners, the Angels came into the game having won 14 of 18 and boasting a 17-6 record here at Angel Stadium.

"We just wanted to come in here and let the Angels know that we are not going anywhere in the division," said Sexson, referring to the fact that the Mariners are 3 1/2 games behind the Angels in the American League West.

Beltre went 4-for-5 with two home runs, a pair of doubles, three RBI and three runs. His first blast was a two-run shot in the sixth inning off Bartolo Colon (5-2) that broke a 4-4 tie and began a run of eight unanswered tallies by Seattle.

Sexson hit a three-run blast off reliever Hector Carrasco in a six-run seventh inning to give the Mariners a commanding 11-4 lead. Two batters later, Beltre slammed Carrasco's 2-0 offering over the left-center field wall for his ninth home run of the season and 200th of his career.

"That inning for us really broke the game open and it was big because the way the game was going it was going to be a battle until the end," Beltre said. "It was a really good day for me, but even better especially since we won."

Sexson finished with three hits and the home run was his second in the last three games.

"I think that was one of my best at-bats all year long," said Sexson, who hit his seventh home run of the season on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. "I just kept fouling off pitches and I finally got good wood on one and hit it hard."

Miguel Batista (5-4) benefited from the Mariners hot bats, picking up the win after allowing four runs, nine hits and four walks while striking out four in 5 1/3 innings. Jon Huber held the Angels to one run in three innings of relief.

"Somehow I kept myself from some very big innings," Batista said. "It seemed like I was against the ropes in every inning but I managed to make some key pitches and get out of them."

Over their last 12 games, the Mariners are batting .328 (147-for-448) and have scored 74 runs, including 50 over their last last five games.

"You hear that hitting is contagious and right now it seems like it's true," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "We got a good ball club and sooner or later people will see that."

In two previous starts against the Mariners this season, Colon was 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA. It was a different story on Monday as he allowed a season-high nine runs - eight earned - and 11 hits in 6 1/3 innings. Colon, who lost for the second time in as many starts, did not walk a batter and struck out three.

"I just didn't have good command of my pitches tonight," Colon said through an interpreter. "I left the ball up in the zone and they hit me hard."

The Mariners, who have won four in a row and six of seven, broke on top in the first inning on Guillen's solo home run.

"We just have been doing a good job putting pressure on the other teams lately with the way we have been swinging the bats," Guillen said.

After falling behind 2-1, Seattle took a 4-2 lead in the second on a two-run double by Jose Lopez and an RBI-single by Yuniesky Betancourt.

Casey Kotchman and Vladimir Guerrero - who had three hits - drove in runs to knot the game through four innings, but the Angels never reclaimed the lead.

"We are playing good baseball right now but the Mariners are playing even hotter baseball," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I mean we got 14 hits tonight and usually when we get that many hits in a game we win."

Anaheim rookie Nathan Haynes collected his first major-league hit in the ninth, where the Angels posted one run.

Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki had a single in the game to extend his hitting-streak to 21 games. The pesky leadoff hitter is batting .419 (39-for-93) with two home runs and 20 runs over that span. He is two away from matching his career-best hitting streak of 23 games, set in 2001.