Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) – Bobby Abreu’s solo homer off Brian Sweeney in the bottom of the 14th inning lifted the Angels over the Mariners, 4-3, in the opener of a three-game series.
Sweeney (1-2), who pitched a scoreless 13th, stayed on the hill for the Mariners to start the 14th. After Alberto Callaspo grounded out, Abreu blasted Sweeney’s offering over the wall in left-center to give Los Angeles the victory.
“I just wanted to make contact and get on base,” Abreu said. “I was looking for a fastball down the middle and I made pretty good contact.”
Jeff Mathis drove in two runs for the Angels, who were coming off a 4-3, 16- inning win over the Indians on Wednesday. Jered Weaver was solid in eight innings, allowing one run on five hits. Rich Thompson (1-0) tossed two scoreless frames of relief to record his first victory in the majors.
Casey Kotchman and Jose Lopez had an RBI apiece for the Mariners, who have lost three of four. David Pauley went 6 2/3 innings in the start, giving up three runs on five hits.
The Angels scored twice in the fourth to break a scoreless tie. Hideki Matsui singled and Mike Napoli was hit by a pitch. The runners moved up one base on a sacrifice bunt. Howie Kendrick’s sacrifice fly and Mathis’ RBI single made it 2-0.
Seattle was able to get one run back in the fifth. Kotchman singled before Adam Moore struck out. Michael Saunders followed with a single to right, and Torii Hunter’s throwing error allowed Kotchman to cross the plate.
LA added a run in the sixth to make it a 3-1 contest. Erick Aybar singled, moved to third on Kendrick’s groundout, and crossed the plate on Mathis’ suicide squeeze bunt.
Fernando Rodney came on for the save in the ninth. Franklin Gutierrez hit a one-out single and crossed the plate on Lopez’s double to left-center field. Kotchman tied the contest with an RBI double to left.
Brandon League pitched a perfect home ninth to send the game into extras.
The Angels stranded men on first and second in the 10th and 11th innings.
“A tough loss. I’m proud of the way we battled back in the ninth inning,” Mariners interim manager Daren Brown said. “We showed character but we didn’t get a couple of hits that we needed.”
The Angels lead the season series with the Mariners, 13-4…Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-6 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. He is 16 hits away from extending his own major league record of consecutive 200-hit seasons to 10…Los Angeles is 50-24 versus Seattle since the start of the 2007 season, going 25-11 at home in the series over that time…The Angels have won back- to-back games for the first time since August 10-11…Rodney suffered his fifth blown save of the season.