Mariners tee off to sweep the Angels

The Mariners were unable to take batting practice today because of the weather, so they decided to take their batting practice during the game. The Mariners finished off their first sweep of the season of the Angels with an 8-2 win thanks to the strength of 3 home runs and a spectacular pitching performance by James Paxton. Justin Smoak added his second home run of the season late in the game and Corey Hart hit his first Mariner home run of the season right after Smoak. Stefen Romero added his first hit and RBI in the majors as he went 2-3 tonight. The Mariners also added 4 more 2-out RBIs giving them 18 for the season.

The game got off to a rough start for both starting pitchers. Hector Santiago made his Angels debut, but he began his night off by having difficulty locating his pitches as he walked Abraham Almonte and Robinson Cano. Although the Mariners would not score in the inning, Santiago managed to strike out Brad Miller and Smoak and got Hart to fly out to end the threat.

Paxton also had difficulty locating his pitches in the bottom of the first. Thankfully after giving up a lead off double to Kole Calhoun and walking Mike Trout, he got Albert Pujols to ground into a double play and then got David Freese to line out to Almonte to end the threat.

The Mariners would strike first in the top of the third inning. With two out Miller got things started with a hustling double, after that Cano singled up the middle and Miller hustled around to score to give Cano his first RBI as a Mariner. Things would be quiet for both teams for a couple innings. Paxton stole the show though. After a rough first inning he would strikeout 5 batters through the next 4 innings, and even though the home plate umpire had an inconsistent strike zone Paxton still found a way to strike guys out.

In the top of the fifth inning the Mariners would add another run to the box score. After Zunino lead off with a single and Willie Bloomquist walked Almonte grounded into a double play but Miller hit soft line drive to left which allowed Bloomquist to score. So the M's took a 2-0 lead after 5 innings.

The sixth inning was the big inning for the Mariners. After back-to-back singles by Smoak and Hart Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out to end Santiago's night. Fernando Salas was brought in to face Romero, who got his first MLB hit 2 innings ago, this time Romero decided to hit a laser down the left field line that scored Smoak and so the M's now had a 3-0 lead. After Ackley grounded out Zunino came up and blasted his first home run of the season and put the Mariners up 6-0.

Mariners would get two more runs in the top of the ninth inning with two outs. Smoak and Hart went back-to-back and the Mariners cushion on the Angels was now 8-0. Hector Noesi was brought in to finish the game for the M's, though his one inning of work wouldn't be easy as he gave up two runs but managed to get the last three outs to secure the Mariners first sweep of the season and their first sweep against the Angels since 2006.

The Mariners begin the season 3-0 for the first time since their "Refuse To Lose" 1995 season, they now will make the trip to Oakland for a four game match up against the defending AL West Champs.

Roenis Elias is set to make his major league debut in the series opener against the Athletics, he will face Jesse Chavez who is making his first start in the majors since June 24, 2012. The Mariners will look to continue their hot start in Oakland by continuing to drive in runs with two outs but the last time a Mariner pitcher made his MLB debut against the A's, Brandon Maurer got rocked for six runs so Elias will look to have a better outing than Maurer did.

Players of the Game: James Paxton 7 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 9 Ks
                                Mike Zunino  2-4 1 R HR 3 RBI
                                Justin Smoak 2-5 2 R HR 1 RBI
                                Corey Hart    2-5 2 R HR 1 RBI

NOTES: Mike Trout went 2-3 in last night's game whereas the rest of the Angels team went 1-26. Out of the 26 runs the Mariners scored in the 3 game series against the Angels 18 of them came with 2 outs. The Mariners also finished the series going 12-28 with runners in scoring position.