Walker shines as Mariners pound Angels, 10-1

SEATTLE Taijuan Walker’s season has told the story many predicted in springtime optimism for the Seattle Mariners as a whole.

Walker hasn’t been perfect. At 23, the right-hander still has to iron out some kinks in his game and even the alternate-universe Mariners are too fundamentally flawed to win 100 games.

A reasonable hope was that the good simply outweigh the bad in 2015 and Walker, at least, has lived up to those tempered expectations.

The hurler submitted another quietly sensational start Monday night, allowing just one run in seven strong innings of work.

And the Mariners provided one of those frustratingly irregular glimpses at what might have been, the offense hammering a long list of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim relievers en route to a 10-1 victory Monday in front of 13,687 spectators at chilly Safeco Field.

With the victory, Seattle (70-75) kept pace on the fringes of the American League wild-card race at seven games out and tripped up Los Angeles (72-71), which fell four games back.

Walker was dominant in the top of the first, striking out Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout to open the game, and erratic in the second, when he surrendered his only run to stake the Angels to their only lead.

The right-hander found a balance somewhere between those poles the rest of the way, finding equilibrium and retiring seven consecutive batters at one point.

The Mariners’ offense contributed all the run support Walker needed in the bottom of the second before exploding after the stretch.

Seth Smith kicked off his two-extra-base-hit, three-RBI night with a two-run homer to right, and Logan Morrison scored on a wild pitch later in the second.

Los Angeles starter Garrett Richards lasted just five laborious innings, in which he threw 100 pitches, gave up five hits and four runs while striking out six.

This being September, a parade of relievers followed out of the Angels bullpen. Wesley Wright got Morrison, who led off the bottom of the sixth, to pop out to left and was promptly yanked after facing just a single batter.

The Mariners batted around and scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh off Cory Rasmus and Cesar Ramos to blow the game open.

Robinson Cano, who went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, tagged Rasmus with a two-run double that rolled all the way to the center-field wall. Mark Trumbo followed with another double off that same fence. Morrison walked, and Shawn O’Malley slashed a run-scoring single off Ramos to score Trumbo.

What followed was proof that this was Seattle’s night: Ramos struck out John Hicks for what would have been the third out but his curveball bounced away from catcher Carlos Perez to allow Hicks to reach first base and Morrison to score. Ketel Marte capped the rally and set the final score with a run-scoring double into the right-center-field gap.

Walker, meanwhile, gave up just two hits after the second inning, both of which were singles by Trout. He struck out seven batters, one for each of his innings pitched, his fastball dancing all over the strike zone.

Walker improved his record on the season to 11-8, which isn’t going to earn any Cy Young considerations but is above average a rate these Mariners as a whole would have happily taken this season.

(c)2015 The Seattle Times

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