Angels 5, Mariners 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Dallas McPherson had three hits and an RBI in his first major league start Monday night, helping the Anaheim Angels gain ground in the playoff race with a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The Angels closed within 2 1/2 games of idle Oakland in the AL West and 4 1/2 of Boston in the wild-card chase despite playing most of the night without star right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, who was hit in the head by a pitch in the first inning.

X-rays at a hospital were normal, and Guerrero returned to the dugout during the game.

Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-4 with a walk. His two singles gave him 238 hits this season, 19 short of George Sisler's major league record set in 1920. The Mariners have 12 games remaining.

Winning pitcher John Lackey (13-12) gave up two runs and 10 hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking none. Troy Percival pitched a scoreless ninth for his 29th save in 34 chances.

Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy left the game after spraining his right knee in the fifth on a fielding play.

Guerrero left after he was hit on the left side of his head by a pitch from Ryan Franklin (4-16). Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia was ejected for the fourth time this season after yelling and pointing at Franklin. Seattle's bench emptied, but no punches were thrown.

Franklin gave up four runs and 11 hits in five innings, becoming the first Mariners pitcher to lose 16 games since Erik Hanson went 8-17 in 1992.

McPherson started at third base in place of Chone Figgins as Scioscia juggled the lineup in an attempt to spark the offense. McPherson, who made his major league debut as a pinch-runner on Sept. 10, doubled in the second and singled in the fourth. His RBI single with two outs in the fifth gave Anaheim a 4-2 lead.

A sacrifice fly by Kennedy scored Anaheim's first run in the second. Jose Guillen had an RBI single and Darin Erstad added an RBI groundout in the third to put the Angels ahead 3-0.

Seattle made it 3-2 in the fifth on RBI singles by Bret Boone and Jolbert Cabrera.

The Mariners had the potential tying runs on second and third in the eighth before Francisco Rodriguez got Hiram Bocachica to ground into a fielder's choice that ended the inning.

The Angels made it 5-2 in the eighth when Figgins stole home with a nifty slide on the front end of a double steal. Seattle catcher Miguel Olivo thought he made the sweeping tag on Figgins in time, but was ejected by plate umpire Wally Bell for arguing the call after the inning ended.