Mariners 5; Angels 2

The Angels lack of offense made life made life difficult for Angels pitchers. John Lackey pitched a good but not great 7.1 innings, allowing five runs on 10 hits while striking out only two. But the offense never came close to bailing him out after the Mariners scored three runs in the third inning, and the Angels dropped their third game in the last four.

Lackey seemed to have decent command. 68 of his 106 pitches were in the strike zone, and he only walked two, but he was not missing a lot of bats. He struck out only two hitters. In the third inning, the Mariners did enough damage to win the game as they strung together four hits, a walk, and a sac fly, pushing three runs across in the process.

Juan Rivera homered in the fifth to pull the Angels within one, but Endy Chavez drove in the Mariners’ fourth run a half inning later. The Angels threatened in the seventh. They closed the lead to two runs, and had the tying run on base with one out. But Jason Vargas struck out Mike Napoli and Howie Kendrick to end the threat.

• Juan Rivera had a nice game, with three hits, a homer and a terrific catch that robbed Russel Branyan of a home run.
• On the other hand, the Angels had only five hits. Two by hitters not named Juan Rivera.
• Maybe Lackey and Santana needed an extra rehab start or two. Neither have looked particularly sharp since coming back, other than one Santana start. Lackey’s ERA is now 6.05.