Mariners 2, Angels 1
Center fielder Torii Hunter lost Carlos Peguero's routine fly ball in the sun with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, plating Jack Cust with the winning run as the Seattle Mariners recorded a 2-1 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
With the game tied in the ninth, Cust led off the frame with a single against Scott Downs (1-1) and moved to second on Adam Kennedy's sacrifice. Cust advanced to third after Rodriguez grounded out to first base to set the stage for Peguero. The lefthanded hitter lofted a fly ball to left-center that Hunter, a nine-time Gold Glove winner, appeared to have in his sights, but it fell in for a single. Hunter had robbed Peguero of an extra-base hit in the seventh.
Chris Gimenez plated Luis Rodriguez with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning for Seattle, which claimed its first sweep of Los Angeles since June 9-11, 2006. By comparison, the Angels won 15 of the 19 games played between the American League West rivals last year.
David Pauley (2-0) tossed one scoreless inning to pick up the win in relief of Doug Fister, who allowed a run and six hits in eight innings.
Downs came on in relief of Dan Haren, who is now winless in his last six starts. Haren allowed one run and just three hits in eight innings, but was saddled with a no-decision.
Howie Kendrick belted a solo homer in the fourth inning for Los Angeles, which dropped its fifth in a row and seventh in eight games. With the loss, the Angels (22-23) dipped below .500 for the first time since they were 3-4 on April 8.