Angels 6, Mariners 5
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Bret Boone has seen the best of times with the Seattle Mariners, and now he's seen the worst.
Seattle is off to a 1-7 start for the first time in the franchise's 28-year history and had only four home runs as a team — three of them by Boone.
”It's about as frustrating as it can be right now. We're playing just good enough to lose, every day,” Boone said. ”Except for the first two games, we've been in every game until the end.”
The Mariners rallied in the ninth inning Wednesday night against Anaheim closer Troy Percival to tie the game — only to see the Angels beat them 6-5 in the bottom half when Chone Figgins stole second and third and scored on Jeff DaVanon's sacrifice fly.
The only Seattle pitcher to get a win so far is reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa. The eight-game drought is the longest for Mariners starters since August 2000 (13 games).
The staff has allowed 52 runs, 27 of them coming with two outs — including Shane Halter's RBI double in the second.
”You can sit here and say, 'Yeah, we didn't get a break here or a break there.' But you can't look at it like that,” Boone said. ”You've got to create a break. Good teams do, and we're not doing that right now.”
The loss was the Mariners' seventh straight against the Angels, who swept them in a three-game set at Seattle last week after losing the season series in each of the previous four years.
”It's always surprising with a team like that, but they're going to get their wins,” Percival said. ”We've just got to try and keep our thumb on them while we've got them and try to get as many games out in front of them as we can.”
Anaheim's Tim Salmon, fighting a season-opening 4-for-30 slump, broke out of it with three hits including his first home run. His three RBIs matched the total he had in his first eight games.
Salmon, the Angels' career leader in homers, hit a two-run shot in the fourth off Freddy Garcia to put them up 4-2 after Boone's two-run homer tied it in the top half.
”The last three or four days, I've really been taking good swings in batting practice and just feeling like it's going to click. And tonight it did,” Salmon said. ”When you're hitting the ball like I did tonight, you want to get back in there and keep hitting.”
Mike Myers (0-1) walked Vladimir Guerrero to open the ninth and Figgins went in to run for him. Figgins was on second when he got the green light from the dugout to try for third. Julio Mateo hit Jose Guillen on the left hand with a 3-2 pitch before DaVanon came through with a flyball to right field.
”We can't hang our heads. We did everything possible. It was just one of those nights,” said Seattle third baseman Dave Hansen, who chased Anaheim starter Ramon Ortiz with an RBI single in the sixth that narrowed the gap to 5-4.
”We've been in pretty much all of our ballgames,” Hansen said. ”Things just haven't been going our way. But we're a positive bunch of guys in here and we'll pull through it.”
Hansen led off the ninth with a single and pinch-runner Willie Bloomquist stole second. Dan Wilson hit for Ben Davis and sliced an opposite-field RBI single on a full count to tie it. But Percival (1-0) retired John Olerud, Edgar Martinez and Boone in order with runners at second and third, and got credit for the win.
Notes: Salmon's homer was his first in 39 career at-bats against Garcia, who had a 10-2 record and 2.24 ERA in his 17 previous starts against them. … Ortiz allowed four runs, eight hits and three walks over 5 2-3 innings and struck out six. … Mariners 3B Scott Spiezio, who began the season on the DL because of back spasms, will begin a rehab assignment at Class-A San Bernardino on Thursday. … Seattle optioned RHP Rafael Soriano to San Bernardino and recalled RHP J.J. Putz from Triple-A Tacoma.