Mariners Knock Abbott Off Course, 7-2 : Baseball: After going three starts without a loss for the Angels, he gives up 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

He gave up 12 hits and five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, but Jim Abbott did his job Saturday.

Harold Reynolds and the Mariners simply did theirs better, piecing together a collection of broken-bat hits that vanquished Abbott’s hopes of putting together his first string of successes this season and sent the Angels to a 7-2 loss at Anaheim Stadium.

“The art of pitching is to make people mis-hit balls and he did that,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said of Abbott (10-13), who had won twice and gotten one no-decision in his previous three outings. “They just found the holes. The way he threw the baseball, there wasn’t anything wrong with it.”

Reynolds found the right target: the left side. He reached base in each of his first four at-bats and scored a run each time, triggering enough offense to support the six-hit pitching of Erik Hanson (15-9) and end the Angels’ five-game winning streak.

Reynolds reached base in the first inning on a line drive that third baseman Jack Howell knocked down but couldn’t play, reached second base in the second when his grounder rolled under Howell’s glove for an error, doubled down the left-field line past a lunging Howell during a two-run fourth and grounded a single between Howell and shortstop Dick Schofield to start the two-run sixth.

“You just can’t keep Reynolds off the bases,” Seattle Manager Jim Lefebvre said after his club’s four-game losing streak ended. “He’s just been getting some big hits.”

Abbott acknowledged that he “got a little out of sync” in the fourth, when he balked with Reynolds on second and then gave up a broken-bat single to short left field by Henry Cotto and was victimized by Jeffrey Leonard’s run-scoring infield hit. But Abbott refused to be shaken by the loss.

“I gave up 12 hits, but I don’t think I did that poorly,” said Abbott, who tied Bert Blyleven for most hits given up by an Angel starter this season. Blyleven yielded 12 to the Chicago White Sox June 26.

“I don’t want to make excuses,” Abbott said. “I’m not going to say I was dominating and they squeaked by. But I’m not upset with the amount of hits I gave up or have given up. I’m not going to play the martyr. I don’t think they hit the ball that hard.”

From start to early finish, Abbott was shaking his head.

“Even that last inning there were two ground balls (by Reynolds and Edgar Martinez) and Jackie (Howell) and Schoey came as hard as they could and it just gets between them,” Abbott said.

“I pretty much threw the ball where I wanted to. The balls had a way of being in holes tonight. My last time out (a 3-1 victory over Minnesota last Monday), they hit them at somebody. I guess I need to be a little more precise location-wise.

“That much of a difference made up for what happened,” Abbott said, holding his thumb and forefinger an inch or so apart. “I felt like I threw the pitches where I wanted to. I didn’t have my best stuff, but a lot of things went their way.”

Not much went the Angels’ way against Hanson, who struck out six and became only the fifth Seattle pitcher to win 15 games in a season. He yielded a run-scoring double to Howell in the second and a home run to Dave Winfield in the sixth, Winfield’s 19th homer of the season and third in two nights.

“I don’t have much to say,” Winfield said. “They beat us. They just beat us.”

Angel Notes

Dick Schofield entered Saturday’s game with a season-high .255 batting average, well above his career .231 average and four points higher than his 1987 career-best .251. Schofield hit .176 (24 for 136) in his first 43 games and .345 (41 for 119) in his next 40.

“He’s widened his stance and got himself a bigger bat,” hitting instructor Deron Johnson said. “He’s hitting the ball all over, using the whole field. He’s had some quality at-bats the last couple of games.”

Dave Winfield, who was hitless in 19 at-bats against Seattle this season before hitting two homers Friday, will be glad when the Angels finish with the Mariners. “If it weren’t for Seattle and Cleveland, I’d be hitting .300,” he said.

Not quite. Winfield was 12 for 53 (.226) against the Indians and was two for 22 against the Mariners through Friday. Subtracting those teams from his overall stats would put him at .277 instead of his actual .261 average. . . . Winfield’s two homers Friday and one Saturday gave him 376 for his career and moved him within three of the Boston Red Sox’s Dwight Evans for the lead among active players.

Lance Parrish, hitless in four at-bats Friday and six for 40 in his last 12 games, had the night off. John Orton, recalled from triple-A Edmonton Thursday, started at catcher for the first time since July 1. . . . Donnie Hill, still recovering from a sprained left wrist, took batting practice Saturday for the first time since his injury. . . . Max Venable, who suffered a sprained right ankle Tuesday, could be available today.