Angels Let One Get Away Again

Their set-up man set them up for another disappointment, their closer couldn’t slam the door and the Angels again lost to the Seattle Mariners, 7-6, in 10 innings Friday night.

A Kingdome crowd of 29,618 saw the Mariners score the game-winner when Angel reliever Chuck McElroy hit Edgar Martinez with a full-count pitch to open the 10th and Jay Buhner doubled to left field.

The ball hugged the wall around the corner and seemed to take forever to reach left fielder Garret Anderson. By the time Anderson relayed his throw to shortstop Gary DiSarcina, Martinez was well on his way home, touching off another indoor fireworks display and dropping the Angels 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers.

But the runs that really decided this game came in the bottom of the eighth, when the supposed ace of the Angels’ staff and the team’s two best relievers failed to protect a two-run lead.

The Angels had overcome a four-run deficit with four runs in the fifth and went ahead, 6-4, in the sixth on Rex Hudler’s two-run homer, but the Mariners rallied with two in the eighth.

Angel starter Chuck Finley, who didn’t allow a hit from the fifth through seventh innings, walked Alex Rodriguez to open the inning. Though Finley struck out the feared Martinez in two previous at-bats, his pitch count had reached 128, so Manager Marcel Lachemann went to set-up man Mike James.

But Martinez drilled an RBI double to right-center field and took third on Buhner’s fly ball to deep center for the first out.

Lachemann went to closer Troy Percival, who got pinch hitter Paul Sorrento to fly to shallow right, Martinez holding at third. But Dan Wilson, hitless in his three previous at-bats, knocked an inside fastball into left field for an RBI single that tied the score, 6-6.

That gave Percival his second blown save of the season, though the run was charged to James, who has now given up runs in each of his last four appearances, his earned-run average jumping from 2.18 to 2.63.

“James needed to get some outs there and didn’t do it,” Lachemann said, “and, heck, Percival isn’t Superman, you can’t expect him to pitch two innings every night. He did a heck of a job to get Sorrento but then gave up the hit.”

The Angels have now lost 14 of their last 19 games. The Mariners have won 12 of 18, including two extra-inning, comeback victories over the Angels this week that stirred memories of 1995.

“They’re a great team and they have some magic in the Kingdome,” said Hudler, who had four hits. “They have great fans, and I think [Manager] Lou Piniella turned things around here. You used to look forward to coming here to play, but now you know you’re in for a battle.”

The Mariners appeared to have Friday night’s game in hand, as right-hander Matt Wagner, making his eighth big league start, blanked the Angels for the first four innings. But he crumbled in the fifth amid a barrage of bad pitches, which led to the Angels’ four-run inning.

Darin Erstad walked with one out and Hudler singled to center. Anderson’s ground-rule double to left-center scored Erstad, and Hudler scored on Tim Salmon’s RBI groundout.

Wagner then forced in a run by issuing consecutive walks to Chili Davis, Randy Velarde and J.T. Snow, the last two passes coming after Wagner jumped ahead, 0-2, in the count. When third baseman Luis Sojo bobbled Pat Borders’ grounder for an error, Davis scored and the Mariner lead had vanished.

Seattle ranks second in the major leagues in home runs but hardly bashed its way to a 4-0 lead. The Mariners scored their first run without the benefit of a hit and their next three on a wild pitch and RBI singles that didn’t even leave the infield.

Amaral walked to open the game, stole second and third and scored on Buhner’s sacrifice fly. Amaral later reached on an infield single in the third and, following Rodriguez’s ground-rule double, scored on Finley’s wild pitch. Finley then stumbled and fell trying to field Buhner’s tapper to the mound, and Rodriguez scored for a 3-0 lead.

Greg Pirkl doubled with one out in the fourth, took third on Sojo’s groundout and scored on Joey Cora’s chopper that caught a part of Finley’s glove and died behind the mound.