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Distracted Angels are routed

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An 11-3 loss to Seattle in Safeco Field, a game in which Ichiro Suzuki capped the Mariners’ seven-run seventh inning with a grand slam, was the least of the Angels’ concerns Wednesday night.

When seven members of your organization are about to fly from Seattle to the Baltimore area to attend a private memorial service for Nick Adenhart, the 22-year-old Angels pitcher who was killed in a traffic accident last Thursday, how can you get too worked up about a baseball game?

But while the Angels mourn the loss of their teammate, as they go through their various stages of grief, the games must go on.

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And it is becoming more and more apparent that these Mariners, losers of 101 games last season, could be a force the Angels, winners of four of the last five American League West titles, will have to reckon with.

Jarrod Washburn provided a solid foundation of starting pitching for Seattle on Wednesday night, giving up two runs and four hits in six innings, and the Mariners extended their winning streak to six games.

“They look different than last year, they look hungry,” Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said. “They’ve got new life with Ken Griffey Jr., and they still have Ichiro. They hit the ball well today. They played the game the right way. They had good pitching behind them. They looked good.”

The Angels? They don’t look so good. They went one for eight with runners in scoring position and are batting .200 with runners in scoring position on the season. Their bullpen, expected to be a strength, has struggled for much of the first eight games.

“We’re human, too -- that tragedy knocked us down,” said Hunter, who had three hits, including a two-run home run. “We’re trying to find it. You can tell at the plate; we’re better than what we’re showing. You can feel the energy is kind of low in the clubhouse. You don’t want to make excuses, but man, it’s been a tough week.”

Jered Weaver took the loss for the Angels, giving up four runs and 10 hits in five innings.

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After the game, Weaver joined pitchers John Lackey and Dustin Moseley, General Manager Tony Reagins, Manager Mike Scioscia, pitching coach Mike Butcher, and Tim Mead, Angels vice president of communications, on the flight to Baltimore for Adenhart’s service.

“You try not to think about it, but how can you not think about it? It’s in the forefront of everyone’s mind,” Weaver said. “Every day kind of gets a little easier. But I’m not going to lie. It’s tough to go out there and not think about it.”

The Angels actually had the potential tying run on third and go-ahead run on second with one out in the seventh, but Mariners reliever Shawn Kelly struck out Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins to preserve a 4-3 lead.

Trailing 4-2, Hunter doubled off Miguel Batista to lead off the seventh and stole third as Kendry Morales reached on a strikeout/passed ball.

Juan Rivera’s single to right made it 4-3, and Seattle Manager Don Wakamatsu pulled Batista in favor of Kelly. Jeff Mathis’ sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, but Kelly overpowered Aybar and Figgins to end the inning.

The Mariners then blew the game open in the seventh, loading the bases with no out off reliever Kevin Jepsen, who gave up a single to Griffey (who hit his 400th homer as a Mariner and 613th overall earlier in the game) and walked two.

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Jose Lopez scored one runner and advanced two others with a sacrifice fly to deep center, and Rob Johnson, who replaced injured catcher Kenji Johjima in the fourth, greeted reliever Jason Bulger with a two-run single for a 7-3 lead.

A single and a walk later, Ichiro, in his first game back after a stint on the disabled list because of a bleeding ulcer, drove a grand slam into the right-field seats for an 11-3 lead.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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