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Mathis, Santana help Angels down Mariners

Jun 3, 2008 - 6:07 AM By Paul Lowenberg PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Angels catcher Jeff Mathis had been struggling mightily at the plate over the last couple of weeks, but all he needed was a little dose of Safeco Field to feel a lot better.

Mathis had been stuck in a four-for-51 slump over his previous 16 games before he picked on a Jarrod Washburn offering in the third for his fourth home run, a two-run blast to help the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to a 4-2 victory over Seattle Monday night.

A .197 hitter over his four-year career, Mathis has only 10 homers - but four of them have come at Safeco Field, where he is 12-for-37 lifetime for a .324 average.

"It's been pretty rough," Mathis said of his difficulties at the plate. "You can see it. But I'm starting to feel better in (batting practice)."

Asked whether he had an explanation for his success at Safeco, the soft-spoken native of Florida replied, "I don't know. I guess I just got lucky a little bit."

Meanwhile, righthander Ervin Santana (8-2) scattered six hits over 7 2/3 innings to put him in a tie for the American League lead in victories.

Santana (8-2), who allowed just three hits in a complete-game 3-2 win over Detroit in his last outing, allowed two runs, walked one and struck out three as he recorded his fifth consecutive winning decision against the Mariners and improved his lifetime record against them to 5-2.

"I didn't have my best stuff tonight, but I just fought to get our team in a good position," Santana said. "Every time we scored I tried to put a zero on the board."

Francisco Rodriguez worked the ninth inning to record his major league-leading 22nd save.

After allowing a run-scoring double in the third, Santana gave up just one more hit - a single by Richie Sexson in the fifth - until Jose Lopez homered with two outs in the eighth to make the score 4-2 and end the young righthander's night.

"I felt like I had no energy," Santana said. "I'm feeling good but I was just trying not to let anybody see my body language."

Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn (2-7), was tagged for four runs on nine hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings and lost for the third time in his last five starts.

"I threw a breaking ball to Mathis that came back and got too much of the plate and he got it out of there," Washburn said. "Other than that they did a good job of putting the ball in play and I didn't do a good job of putting them away when I got ahead."

Washburn departed with one out in the sixth after loading the bases on a pair of singles and a walk. But his replacement, Mark Lowe, struck out Howie Kendrick and got Garret Anderson to flyout and keep the Angels from scoring.

After taking a 2-0 lead in the third, The Angels added two more in the fourth for a 4-1 lead on Robb Quinlan's run-scoring single and a bases-loaded fielder's choice grounder by Maicer Izturis.

Ichiro Suzuki's triple and a double by Lopez in the third had cut the Angels' lead to 2-1.

The Mariners mounted a brief threat against Santana in the second inning when they put runners on first and second with one out. But Sexson, who returned to the starting lineup after sitting on the bench for five games, promptly grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Angels right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, a career .364 hitter with 22 homers and 68 runs batted in against the Mariners, was out of the lineup with a hyperextended right knee he suffered sliding into third in Sunday's game with Toronto. He is listed as day-to-day.

It was the 13th consecutive game that the Angels have scored four or fewer runs, but they are still 9-4 over that stretch.

"There were some positive signs (about the offense), but our pitching picked us up again tonight," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.