Seattle Finds Way to Walk on the Angels

Pitcher Scott Schoeneweis suffered his first loss of the season Sunday when the Seattle Mariners beat the Angels, 8-2, before 42,940 at Safeco Field. The Angels were lucky they didn’t lose Schoeneweis.

Mariner catcher Dan Wilson hit a wicked liner off the left side of Schoeneweis’ lower back in the sixth inning, a shot that caught ribs and muscle, but the left-hander remained in the game and seemed OK afterward.

“I’ve pitched through chemotherapy before,” Schoeneweis said, referring to his battle against testicular cancer in college. “No matter how bad it felt, I didn’t want to come out of the game. That shows weakness. Besides, I wasn’t hurt.”

What hurt Schoeneweis wasn’t so much the balls that hit him, but the balls the Mariners did not hit.

Displaying more patience than any of Schoeneweis’ previous six opponents, Seattle forced him into deeper counts and worked five walks against him, three of them leading to runs. Relievers Eric Weaver and Derrick Turnbow combined for seven walks, and the Angels tied a franchise record with 12 free passes.

Three of the walks came during Seattle’s four-run sixth, which included Edgar Martinez’s leadoff homer, a rare dropped fly ball by right fielder Tim Salmon, and led to Schoeneweis’ demise. He left after 5 1/3 innings, having given up six runs--five earned--and six hits, and fell to 4-1.

“They took a lot of close pitches,” said Schoeneweis, a sinkerball specialist who relies heavily on ground-ball outs.

“I don’t know how they did that. I tip my hat to them. I couldn’t have thrown those pitches any better.

“On another day, those pitches may be strikes and they won’t be able to take them. They’ll have to swing, and I’ll get ground balls.”

Seattle left-hander John Halama (4-0) gave up one run and two hits and struck out eight in six innings, proving you don’t have to throw very hard to beat the Angels. Most of his strikeouts were on changeups and breaking balls, and the Angels rarely made solid contact against him.

“For the most part, all teams have trouble against guys who throw changeups for strikes and then throw off-speed stuff out of the strike zone,” Salmon said. “They have you thinking so much about that, they can throw a fastball by you. This is a fastball-hitting team.”

It was not a hitting team, fastball or otherwise, this weekend. In 15 innings from the start of Saturday’s 1-0 loss through the sixth inning Sunday, the Angels, who entered the series with an American League-leading .293 team batting average, managed four hits.

Leadoff batter Darin Erstad, who scorched opposing pitchers for a .449 average in April, is mired in a one-for-19 slump, his average falling to .383. Mo Vaughn is hitless in his last 11 at-bats. Troy Glaus struck out six times Saturday and Sunday. Garret Anderson is batting .238.

Still, the Angels were in decent shape entering the bottom of the sixth inning Sunday, trailing, 2-1. But Martinez homered, and Schoeneweis ran into trouble by walking Jay Buhner and David Bell with one out. Then trouble found Schoeneweis.

Wilson ripped a liner that hit Schoeneweis and caromed to second baseman Adam Kennedy, who charged and made an excellent scoop toss to first but not in time to get Wilson.

With the bases loaded, Mark McLemore lofted a fly ball into the right-field corner that Salmon appeared to have trouble tracking in the sun. It bounced off his glove for an error, allowing a run to score for a 4-1 lead.

“It’s called a clank,” Salmon said. “I had it played perfectly, and it hit the heel of my glove. I can’t say I lost it in the sun, because I played it right. It was not a very opportune time for that to happen.”

Weaver replaced Schoeneweis, and Mike Cameron drove a ball to deep center that bounced off the glove of Anderson as the Angel center fielder braced himself for a collision with the wall.

The play was ruled a single, with Bell scoring for a 5-1 advantage. Weaver walked Stan Javier with the bases loaded for a 6-1 lead, and the Mariners were well on their way to their second win in the three-game series.