Halo Highlights – Four Run Eighth Sinks Mariners

Felix Hernandez has been an unstoppable and unbeatable force since June, and yesterday seemed like it was going to be one of those games for the Angels.

The Angels jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning When Albert Pujols drove in Torii Hunter with this 36th double of the season. Giving Ervin Santana a quick lead before he even got to the mound. He made that lead stand until the third inning. Trayvon Robinson got the scoring started for Mariners by blasting one out to right on 3-2 count to tie the game. Three batters later, Franklin Gutierrez Doubled home Dustin Ackley to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead. That’s all the Mariners would manage against Ervin though. He would allow only three more base runners during his seven inning start.

Unfortunately for the Angels, for two months, that is all King Felix has needed. The Angels threatened in the fourth getting Mark Trumbo to third with two out, but failed to drive him in. And then again in the sixth when they had runners at first and second with only one out, but Hernandez got Albert Pujols to ground into an inning ending double play. Felix was in control, again, and it seemed like there was nothing the Angels could do about it.

For some reason though, the Angels find ways to beat Felix who came in to the game with a career record of 6-10 against our boys, and in the eighth, the Angels finally broke through. It started with a Mike Trout single (of course it started with a Mike Trout single) which was followed by a Torii Hunter single that sent Trout to third base (again, of course it did). Pujols then sent a rocket down the third base line that Kyle Seager was unable to ¡Olé! bringing home Trout to tie the game and sending Torii to third with Albert slowly making his way to second on the error. Two batters later, Mark Trumbo hit one through the five and a half hole of a pulled in infield plating both Hunter and Pujols to put the Angels up 4-2, driving Hernandez from the game, and giving the Halos the lead for good. Howie Kendrick would follow that up with an RBI double to pad the lead at 5-2.

A scoreless eighth from Kevin Jepsen, a 1-2-3 ninth from Ernesto Frieri for save number 17 and the Angels had the win.

This is a nice five game winning streak they have going as every starting pitcher has had a quality start, the bullpen has been making leads stand and the offense has been doing what it’s been good at for the last two months.

Jered Weaver toes the rubber tonight going for win number 17 and the series sweep at 1:05 PM PST. Opposing him is Hisashi Iwakuma who allowed only one hit and an unearned run in his last start against the Twins. A win tonight would give the Angels more momentum going into an important nine game stretch during which they play the Tigers in a three game set and the A’s in a pair of three game sets.