Angels Bat Mariners Around, 14-4

Joe Maddon ran out of space Friday night. His pockets were stuffed to overflowing with batting gloves, and he wore someone’s shin guard on his forearm.

The Angels were in the midst of batting around in a five-run fifth inning in their 14-4 victory over Seattle before a paid crowd of 14,282 at the Kingdome. And Maddon, the first base coach, at last summoned a bat boy to unload everything he’d been given for safekeeping by Angel base runners.

The Angels sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth as they turned a 7-2 lead into a 12-2 runaway. Normally, a 7-2 lead would figure to be enough, but the Angels blew a 7-0 lead here last year.

Friday, they left nothing to chance, tormenting Seattle pitchers early and often.

“I think we have a much better feel this year for getting ahead and not just sitting on it,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “We’ve done a good job of getting some more. As soon as you back off offensively, it’s hard to get started again.”

In the first inning, Jim Edmonds homered, extending his hitting streak to 18 games. Tony Phillips hit a three-run homer in the second. Rookie Garret Anderson hit a two-run homer in the fifth.

Phillips had four runs batted in and Gary DiSarcina had three hits--three singles and a double. DiSarcina also equaled an Angel record by scoring four runs.

The Angels, starting a 10-game trip against American League West rivals Seattle, Texas and Oakland, weren’t retired in order until the seventh. By then, they had a 12-4 lead.

All that support made for an easy night for Mark Langston (6-1). He gave up seven hits, including bases-empty homers by Dan Wilson and Mike Blowers, but had six strikeouts and did not walk a batter.

With one out in the first and a 1-0 count, Edmonds hit Tim Belcher’s pitch over the 380-foot sign in right.

The homer was Edmonds’ 10th in 53 games this season, doubling his 1994 total in 94 games. His 18-game hitting streak tied Oakland’s Mark McGwire for the longest in the AL this season.

The Angels might have scored more in the first if not for center fielder Rich Amaral’s superb running catch on J.T. Snow’s drive to the wall in left-center with two out and a runner on.

The Angels built a 4-0 lead after Phillips’ three-run homer.

Belcher, a former Dodger who was acquired by the Mariners in a May 15 trade that sent pitcher Roger Salkeld to Cincinnati, struggled to stay ahead of Angel hitters. At one point, Belcher had given up three-ball counts to nine of the first 14 batters.

Belcher loaded the bases with one out in the fourth and Blowers helped him out with a heads-up play on Edmonds’ slow roller along the third base line, forcing Jorge Fabregas at home.

Greg Myers followed with a rare three-run single to center. Only two runs should have scored, but Amaral was apparently in no hurry to return the ball to the infield and Edmonds sprinted around third to score the extra run.

Belcher (3-2) lasted four lackluster innings and was replaced by Ron Villone to start the fifth. In 104 pitches, Belcher gave up seven runs and six hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

Villone walked Snow to start the fifth, then gave up Anderson’s second major league home run and the Angels led, 9-2.

Soon enough it was 10-2, then 11-2, then 12-2.

Carlos Martinez scored Fabregas with a groundout in the ninth and Edmonds closed the scoring with an RBI single.