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Rivera, Guerrero power Angels to sixth straight victory

Aug 13, 2008 - 6:02 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Holding a 15-game lead in the American League West, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim could be forgiven for letting up. It's clear, however, they have no intention of doing so.

Juan Rivera and Vladimir Guerrero each homered during the fifth inning Tuesday, propelling the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Anaheim (75-43), which has won six straight, improved to 15-3 in its last 18 games at Angel Stadium and moved an amazing 15 games ahead of second-place Texas (61-59) in the AL West thanks to the Rangers' loss to the Boston Red Sox earlier in the evening.

"Right now, it's just about how we are swinging the bats," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We just got guys that are feeling comfortable in the batter's box. Vlad and Juan gave us some big hits to lift our club tonight."

With Anaheim trailing 3-0 in the fifth, Rivera pounded a 3-2 fastball from Jarrod Washburn (5-12) into the seats in left to lead off the inning. Four batters later, Mark Teixeira's RBI groundout plated another run before Guerrero followed with a two-run shot to left to put Anaheim into the lead.

Garret Anderson belted his 13th home run - a two-run shot - in the eighth and Rivera added a run-scoring double in the inning that allowed the Angels to build a four-run cushion at 7-3.

"We battled back and it's good for teams to come from behind because winning games like this are good for the season and for the playoffs," Anderson said. "It's just good to help the team put runs on the board late in the game."

Jon Garland (11-7) permitted three runs and nine hits over seven frames to win for the third time in four starts. Scot Shields and Jose Arredondo each allowed a hit over the next 1 2/3 innings before closer Francisco Rodriguez struck out Raul Ibanez for the final out to record his 46th save.

The Mariners managed all of their offense against Garland in the third.

Ibanez followed three straight one-out singles with an RBI fielder's choice groundout. Adrian Beltre and Jose Lopez followed with run-scoring singles to complete Seattle's three-run frame.

"It was good to see us come out with a good inning against a team like the Angels," Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said. "They are the type of team that no lead is safe against and it showed tonight."

"I had good stuff early on but got into trouble against them when I was leaving the ball up in the zone and they hit me hard," Garland said. "I managed to settle down after that inning and gave us a chance to win."

Washburn was saddled with the loss largely because of the three unearned runs that came after Rivera's homer. In all, the lefthander surrendered four runs - one earned - and seven hits over seven innings.

"I felt like I pitched a good game," Washburn said. "I just know from playing with a lot of those guys that they are never out of a game. We just have to come out and be ready to play hard tomorrow."