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Lackey continues dominance over Mariners

Aug 28, 2007 - 6:13 AM By Paul Lowenberg PA Sports Ticker Contributing Writer

SEATTLE (Ticker) - Even when he's feeling lousy, John Lackey still is too tough for the Seattle Mariners.

Garret Anderson drove in three runs and Lackey continued his season-long mastery over the Mariners to lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to a 6-0 victory in the opener of their key three-game series Monday night.

Lackey (16-8), who battled a strep throat all night, defeated the Mariners for the third time this season by pitching a complete-game shutout. He has not allowed a run to Seattle in 24 innings this season.

The 28-year-old righthander scattered seven hits, striking out five without allowing a walk, and got into serious trouble only once as he snapped a personal two-game losing streak.

"That was an incredible effort by John," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He pitched a terrific game against a good offensive club, and under the circumstances of him being under the weather, it was a great effort."

The shutout was Lackey's seventh of his career and second of the season over the Mariners. He handed them an 8-0 setback at Safeco Field on July 31.

"His ball moves in and away and he's got some differential," Mariners manager John McLaren said, trying to explain why Lackey has been so effective against his club this year. "He can really take something off his breaking ball. He's a great competitor. He's got the bulldog attitude about him. I've always admired the way he went about his job."

Lackey was too ill to speak with the media following the game but he relayed his thoughts through a team spokesman.

"He said that as the game went on he started feeling weaker, but he just kept battling through," communications manager Eric Kay said. "He said the importance of this game was huge and he settled in and knew what he had to do."

The loss extended the Mariners' losing streak to three games and dropped them three games behind the Angels (77-54) in the American League West Division race.

"He was really locating his fastball, his two-seamer, and that was the big key for us today," said catcher Jeff Mathis about Lackey. "He was real intense and fired up. He was really into the game."

Seattle (73-56) remains two games in front of the New York Yankees (72-59) atop the AL wild card race.

Mariners starter Miguel Batista (13-10), who lasted just two innings in his previous start, had his second straight rocky outing, giving up six runs on 10 hits while striking out three, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch in six innings.

"Miggy (Batista) had a little problem locating and Garret got a couple of big hits off him," said McLaren, who watched most of the game from the clubhouse after being ejected by third base umpire Jerry Meals in the first inning for arguing a strikeout call on Ichiro Suzuki.

Anderson got the Angels off to a 1-0 start with his 10th home run, a blast into the right field seats in the second inning.

In the third inning, Anderson lined a ground-rule double into the right field corner with the bases loaded to score Mathis and Orlando Cabrera for a 3-0 advantage.

The Angels used a suicide squeeze by Mathis to score Gary Matthews Jr. from third to increase the lead to 4-0 in the fourth.

Matthews led off the inning with a hit to center that eluded Ichiro Suzuki for a moment. Suzuki picked up the ball and fired it to second baseman Jose Lopez, who missed the tag, and Matthews was credited with a double. Kendry Morales singled him to third, and Mathis bunted back to the pitcher as Matthews broke from home, scoring easily on the sacrifice.

Anaheim tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth on Maicer Izturis' leadoff triple and Morales' single. After Howie Kendrick doubled, Izturis scored on Batista's wild pitch for a 6-0 lead.

The Mariners threatened in the third when they put runners on first and second with one out, but Lackey worked his way out of the jam, getting Jose Vidro on a fielder's choice grounder and Jose Guillen on a pop-up to short to kill the rally.

"He (Lackey) had his A game out there today," Vidro said. "He didn't give us much, a lot of credit to him, he did his job. When he needed to make pitches he did. It was a great job by him tonight."