Taijuan Walker pitched seven sharp innings to win his fourth straight start, Robinson Cano homered and Nelson Cruz and Brad Miller had RBI doubles to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Walker (6-6) scattered seven hits, struck out six and walked none in his first career start against the Angels, stretching his streak of consecutive innings without allowing a walk to 21 1-3 spanning 87 batters. The only run against the 22-year-old right-hander came on Mike Trout's two-out homer in the first.
Fernando Rodney got three outs for his 15th save in 18 chances and his first since May 29. The right-hander, who set a franchise record last season with 48, got his first save opportunity since being demoted from the closer role.
Matt Shoemaker (4-6) allowed two runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, working on six day's rest after getting two extra days to improve his fastball command. The right-hander is 2-6 with a 5.16 ERA in his last 12 starts since opening the season with consecutive road wins over the Mariners and Texas Rangers - and 0-5 with a 4.82 ERA in his seven home starts.
The Mariners took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Austin Jackson led off with an infield single and came all the way around on Cruz's one-out line drive over first baseman Albert Pujols' head and into the right field corner.
Los Angeles mounted a threat in the bottom half when Trout led off with a single and Pujols was hit with a pitch just above the left elbow. Erick Aybar's bunt advanced the runners, but David Freese struck out and Matt Joyce flied out on the next pitch.
The Angels have stranded 54 base runners over the last six games, going 4 for 35 with runners in scoring position during that stretch. Opposing batters are 2 for 26 against Walker over his last seven starts.
The Mariners opened the seventh with singles by Seth Smith against Shoemaker and Miller against Cesar Ramos. Mike Zunino advanced the runners with a sacrifice after Fernando Salas came in from the bullpen, but Jackson grounded into a double play after an intentional walk to Logan Morrison.
But Salas gave up Cano's fourth homer of the season leading off the eighth, his first in 94 at-bats against the Angels since signing a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Mariners in December 2013 after nine seasons with the New York Yankees. The five-time All-Star hit 13 homers against the Angels while with the Yanks.
Aybar tried to stretch a double in the alley into a triple with one out in the Angels' fourth and was thrown out by second baseman Cano, who got the relay from right fielder Mark Trumbo and fired a perfect strike to Kyle Seager.
Trumbo, who began his big league career with the Angels and averaged 31.7 home runs during his first three full seasons, was playing his first game at the "Big A" since leaving the club in a three-way trade to Arizona in December 2013 - a deal that brought pitcher Hector Santiago from the Chicago White Sox to Anaheim.
Trumbo was 1 for 3 with a walk, receiving a warm ovation from the crowd of 41,137 his first time up. He led off the fifth inning with a double and scored on Miller's double over the lead of left fielder Efren Navarro.
The Angels took the lead with Trout's 19th homer. Eleven of the reigning AL MVP's last 12 home runs have come with the bases empty.
UP NEXT
Mariners: LHP J.A. Happ (3-4) is 0-3 with a 6.08 ERA in his last three starts after five consecutive no-decisions. In three career starts against the Angels, he is 0-3 with a 9.82 ERA.
Angels: RHP Garrett Richards (7-5) has allowed two earned runs in 29 1-3 innings over his last four starts against Seattle and is 2-0 in those games.
