Seattle Proves to Be Double Trouble : Baseball: Mariners turn four double plays and hang on for a 4-3 victory over Angels.

A three-run rally in the top of the eighth inning won the game for the Seattle Mariners on Monday night, but if it wasn’t for their defense, the Mariners wouldn’t have had a chance to extend their winning streak to seven.

Seattle, not exactly known for its flashy glove work, turned four double plays and made two other outstanding defensive plays in its 4-3 victory over the Angels in front of 19,857 in Anaheim Stadium.

“We caught everything that was hit--that’s where it’s at,” Mariner Manager Jim Lefebvre said. “Our defense gave us the opportunity to win in the eighth.”

Most impressive among the defensive plays was right fielder Jay Buhner’s third-inning effort that turned what appeared to be a sure Dick Schofield double into an out at second base.

Schofield had blooped a hit down the right-field line to lead off the inning and Buhner, after charging in to field the ball, slid into foul territory as Schofield raced around first.

But Buhner got up quickly and fired a one-hop strike to shortstop Omar Vizquel, who barely had to move his glove to apply the tag.

The play most likely saved a run. Luis Polonia’s ensuing grounder to second would have advanced Schofield to third, and Schofield would probably have scored on Luis Sojo’s fly-ball out to left. Instead, the score remained tied, 1-1.

“That was a big play down the right-field line because that hit could have turned the game around or given them the advantage,” Lefebvre said. “Jay hustled and made a great throw and Omar made a great deke. He was just standing there like nothing was happening and then tagged (Schofield).”

Left fielder Tracy Jones made a diving catch of Dave Winfield’s drive to left center in the fourth inning, preventing a possible big inning and redeeming himself for his opening-day gaffe, when he lost Dave Parker’s ball in the Kingdome lights and turned an out into a triple.

“All I was thinking about on that hit was the day I lost Parker’s ball in the lights,” said Jones, who momentarily lost track of Winfield’s ball. “I ran over to where I thought it would be and caught it at the last minute.”

Third on the list of defensive stars was Vizquel, the 24-year-old shortstop who spent a good portion of the 1990 season at triple-A Calgary.

Vizquel, doing his best Ozzie Guillen impersonation, turned unassisted double plays in the second and seventh innings and was in the middle of a 1-6-3 double play in the fifth.

Polonia was running on Sojo’s fifth-inning grounder back to pitcher Brian Holman, but Holman still threw to second, where the ball, Polonia and Vizquel arrived at about the same time. But Vizquel was able to make the catch, relay the throw to first and avoid the sliding Polonia.

“Defense is one of the areas that picks up teams more than anything else,” Lefebvre said. “We tend to focus on the hitting aspect, but when you make the big double plays like tonight, it’s a big lift. You can tell a team that’s really into the game by the way they’re playing defense.”