The Los Angeles Angels were smelling blood in the water on Thursday afternoon. The Oakland Athletics had already lost their game against the Texas Rangers and the Halos were going for a sweep of the Seattle Mariners at the Big A. Unfortunately, the Angels were unable to close the gap behind the A's for the second Wild Card spot to one game, as they were defeated 9-4 by the Mariners.
Vernon Wells hit an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning to give the Angels an early lead. In the top of the fourth, John Jaso hit a two-run homer to put the Mariners on top, 2-1. Alberto Callaspo hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to tie things up, 2-2, but Seattle would reclaim the lead in the top of the fifth when Casper Wells scored on a Franklin Gutierrez groundout.
The Mariners finally broke through in the top of the seventh with a big four-run inning. Garrett Richards issued a bases-loaded walk to Trayvon Robinson and gave up a single to Kyle Seager that scored Wells and made it 5-2 Mariners. Seattle was not finished in the inning, as Jesus Montero lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Dustin Ackley and John Jaso drove in Robinson with a double.
Howie Kendrick roped a two-out, two-run double down the left field line off of Josh Kinney in the bottom of the eighth inning to bring the Angels to within three runs of the lead. The Mariners answered back in the top of the ninth, however, as Dustin Ackley scored on a sacrifice bunt and throwing error by LaTroy Hawkins and Montero hit an RBI double to push the Seattle lead back out to 9-4.