Mariners 1, Angels 0

SEATTLE (AP) — Ryan Franklin had to be at his best to end his 11-game losing streak.

Franklin outpitched John Lackey to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 1-0 win over Anaheim on Wednesday night, preventing the Angels from gaining ground on AL West-leading Oakland.

”It felt good,” he said. ”I got the biggest monkey off my back that I've ever had on there.”

Franklin (4-15) hadn't won in 17 starts since June 5. His losing streak was the second-longest in Mariners history.

But he tied a career best by allowing just two hits en route to his second career shutout and fourth complete game. Franklin walked two and struck out four.

”It's been a tough last three months,” Franklin said. ”I kept working and grinding trying to get back on track.”

The Angels fell 5 1/2 games behind Boston in the American League wild-card race. The Red Sox beat Tampa Bay 8-6. Anaheim remained two games behind Oakland, which lost to Texas 10-3.

Franklin retired 18 straight batters before walking Vladimir Guerrero with two out in the ninth. Thinking Franklin was about to be pulled, the crowd of 31,269 booed when manager Bob Melvin went to the mound. But Franklin stayed in and got Garret Anderson to foul out to third base on a 1-2 pitch.

Melvin said he had no intention of removing Franklin. The fans cheered when the manager walked off the mound and left Franklin to finish his second complete game of the season.

”Anderson as far as the numbers go is one problem child,” Melvin said. ”But Ryan was pitching so well. I just wanted to go out there and tell him I had a lot of confidence in him and ask him how bad he wanted it. He wanted it pretty bad.”

Seattle's run came on Raul Ibanez's RBI single off Francisco Rodriguez with two outs in the eighth.

Ichiro Suzuki started the rally with a one-out single off Lackey's right hip to move within 24 hits of tying the major league single-season record set by Hall of Famer George Sisler in 1920 for the St. Louis Cardinals. Suzuki went 1-for-4 and has 233 hits with 17 games remaining.

Adam Kennedy made a splendid defensive play on Randy Winn's groundball, forcing Suzuki at second. Edgar Martinez then hit a single to right that sent Winn to third. Rodriguez replaced Lackey and allowed Ibanez's single to right on a 1-0 pitch.

”He's got electric stuff,” Ibanez said of Rodriguez.

Franklin has allowed 31 home runs this season after winning a career-high 11 games last year, but he limited the Angels to eight outfield flyballs. He threw 112 pitches, 74 for strikes.

The Angels lost a two-hit shutout for the second time in seven days. They were blanked 1-0 by Toronto on Sept. 8.

”What is tough is losing ballgames,” Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said. ”It's tough losing ballgames where you can't get into your game. You're not going to pound the ball every night, but we just flat-out haven't done it offensively.”

Lackey (12-12) pitched 7 2-3 innings, allowing one run on five hits and two walks. He struck out a career-high 10.

”It was a tough loss, but any loss this time of the year is tough,” said Lackey, who had won three of four decisions. ”We need to win games and I didn't get the job done tonight.”

In the third, Darin Erstad of the Angels hit his first triple of the season, but was stranded when Guerrero grounded out to end the inning.

Winn, who had a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the seventh in Seattle's 3-2 victory over Anaheim on Tuesday night, singled in his first two at-bats.