Mariners 5, Angels 0
SEATTLE -- Seattle right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma rebounded from a shaky first inning to throw eight shutout innings and lead the Mariners to a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
Iwakuma allowed the first three batters of the game to reach base but gave up just one hit the rest of the way as Seattle (41-47) continued its yo-yo month without winning or losing back-to-back games in 12 tries.
Iwakuma (1-1) gave up three hits and two walks while striking out six in his second start since coming off the disabled list.
The Angels (47-40) had a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the American League West for the first time since April 18 but fell short.
Mariners left fielder Mark Trumbo drove in two runs and right fielder Nelson Cruz went 3-for-3. Third baseman Kyle Seager had two hits and scored twice.
Angels starter C.J. Wilson battled control problems for most of the night but was able to get through 6 2/3 innings. Wilson (7-7) walked four, hit one batter and allowed five hits and three runs.
Seattle loaded the bases three times in the first five innings, taking a 3-0 lead while stranding seven baserunners.
Trumbo's second RBI of the game, a seventh-inning single, put the Mariners ahead 4-0 before pinch-hitter Logan Morrison followed with an RBI single of his own and a 5-0 Seattle lead.
Seattle reliever Mark Lowe finished the shutout with a scoreless ninth. It marked the first time since May 26, and only the fourth time this season, that the Angels failed to score a run.
Los Angeles had just four hits, the final one coming on an infield single from shortstop Erick Aybar with two outs in the ninth.
Wilson, who dominated the Mariners at Safeco Field in the opening series of the season, breezed through the first inning before control problems led to two runs in the second.
Seattle led off the second with back-to-back singles, then Wilson walked two consecutive hitters to drive in the first run of the game. A bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Mariners shortstop Brad Miller made the score 2-0 before Wilson worked out of the jam.
Trumbo gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead with a two-out, RBI single in the third.
The Angels threatened in the top of the first, when a walk and two singles loaded the bases with no outs but couldn’t get a run across. An Albert Pujols strikeout, a force play at home and a diving catch by Cruz ended the threat with three runners stranded on base.
Seattle escaped a major scare in the fifth, when Wilson's first pitch of the inning got away from him and hit Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano in the head. Cano recoiled in time to soften the blow and was able to get up and jog to first base under his own power. Wilson was visibly shaken by the off-target throw and gave up a hit and a walk to load the bases but got out of the jam without allowing a run.
NOTES: Seattle CF Austin Jackson (back spasms) returned to action after missing two games. ... The Mariners signed veteran RHP Chien-Ming Wang to a minor-league contract Saturday. The 35-year-old Wang, who played at the Triple-A level in Atlanta's system before being released June 19, is expected to report to the Mariners' Triple-A team in Tacoma. ... Angels 1B Albert Pujols and CF Mike Trout are the first pair of teammates since 1998 to each hit 26 home runs before the All-Star break. Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez were the last duo to do it. ... Evelyn Jones, who celebrated her 108th birthday Saturday, became the oldest person to ever throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a major league game when she passed an underhand toss three feet to Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez before the game.