For the second time in three days, Mike Carp ruined the fortunes of the Los Angeles Angels in the eighth inning. Carp, who hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning on Monday night, delivered a two-run double Wednesday night to give the Seattle Mariners a 2-1 win over the Angels at Safeco Field. Felix Hernandez pitched his fifth complete game to capture his 13th victory of the season.
Hernandez struck out nine on the night, including the first two of the ninth inning. Mark Trumbo drove a ball to the right field wall with two outs in the ninth, but the ball fell safely into the glove of Casper Wells, just shy of a game-tying home run.
The Angels failed to take advantage of the loss by the Texas Rangers earlier in the day, and remain three and a half games behind Texas in the American League West.
It was a tough-luck loss for Dan Haren (13-8), who gave up just five hits and a walk while striking out seven in his 7 2/3 innings. He left with a 1-0 lead, but both runners he left behind came around to score on Carp's double.
Haren retired 15 straight at one point, until Carp singled with one out in the seventh inning. That was followed one out later with another single by Kyle Seager, then Wells reached base on an error by third baseman Alberto Callaspo to load the bases with two outs. However, Haren was able to escape the jam by getting Brendan Ryan to bounce back to the box for the final out of the inning.
In the eighth inning, Haren got two quick outs, but then gave up back-to-back singles to Franklin Gutierrez and Dustin Ackley to put runners at the corners. Haren was removed after 107 pitches in favor of Scott Downs, who gave up the game-changing double to Carp.
The Angels scored their run in the third inning, which began with a single by rookie Mike Trout. He was followed by Jeff Mathis, who bunted Trout over to second base, then one out later Howie Kendrick singled to left field to drove home Trout.
Ervin Santana starts the series finale Thursday night for the Halos, facing Charlie Furbush of the Mariners.
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