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Mariners, Cano hope to break the brooms out in Anaheim

Apr 2, 2014 - 2:35 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Seattle Mariners handed out big money to second baseman Robinson Cano this past offseason and his impact is already being felt throughout the lineup.

Cano and the Mariners look to begin the season with a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday night.

A five-time All-Star to begin his career with the New York Yankees, Cano signed a 10-year, $240 million deal with the Mariners in December and has gone 3-for-7 with a pair of runs scored and three walks in his first two games with the Mariners.

However, his presence in the lineup has paid off for first baseman Justin Smoak, who drove in three runs hitting behind Cano in Tuesday's 8-3 victory over the Angels.

Smoak plated all of his runs on a double as part of a four-run third inning for the Mariners. The base hit also came after an intentional walk to Cano and Smoak is 4-for-8 with a homer and six RBI through the first two games of this series.

"I knew they were going to walk Cano," Smoak saidi Marlins.

He's 8-5 in 22 career meetings with Tampa Bay, including 6-3 in 11 appearances at Tropicana Field.

In 59 career innings in the building, he's allowed 80 hits and 37 runs while batters have hit .331 against him.

He's faced by Tampa Bay's 24-year-old lefty, Matt Moore, who's coming off a 17-win season in his second full tour of the major leagues.

The Rays drafted Moore in the eighth round of 2007 and he reached the majors briefly in 2011 before sticking around in 2012 and winning 11 of 22 decisions across 31 starts.

He burst out last year as the team's winningest pitcher while posting a 3.29 ERA across 150 innings.

Moore is 4-1 in seven career meetings with Toronto.

On Tuesday, Adam Lind hit a three-runun in the ninth inning, but stranded runner second and third to earn his first save of the season.

Wil Myers and Desmond Jennings finished with one RBI apiece for the Rays, who went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Alex Cobb (0-1) allowed four runs on five hits and four walks over five innings to absorb the loss.

Tampa won 11 of its 19 matchups with the Blue Jays last season. In fact, Toronto hasn't won a series at Tropicana Field since April 6-8, 2007, with Tampa Bay going 19-0-1 in series play since then.

The Rays' 148 wins over the Jays and their 84 wins at Tropicana Field are their most against any opponent.