Valdes Strikes Out in Bid for Win No. 1

Ismael Valdes went 7 2/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners Thursday night, giving up only three runs and eight hits, striking out five and walking one. The Angels will gladly accept that kind of effort from the right-hander each time he takes the mound.

Except when he’s opposing Freddy Garcia. Then, Valdes will need to come up with something a little more super-human.

Valdes’ second start was every bit as good as his first, but he again had the misfortune of squaring off against Garcia, the Seattle right-hander who limited the Angels to one run on three hits in seven innings of the Mariners’ 3-2 victory before 25,016 at Safeco Field Thursday night.

“That was an outstanding game for Valdes--that’s the way we remember the Rocket,” said Angel Manager Mike Scioscia, who was the Dodger bench coach during part of Valdes’ career in Los Angeles.

“It’s obvious from his last two starts that his stuff is back. His velocity is great. His command is great. Against a tough lineup, he pitched a great game.”

Just not good enough. Again. Garcia beat Valdes and the Angels, 2-1, Saturday night in Anaheim, and he dominated them again Thursday night, taking advantage of home-plate umpire Doug Eddings’ generous strike zone by spotting his fastballs and effectively mixing curves and changeups.

“Eddings’ strike zone was very, very wide,” Scioscia said. “He did not get the memo from the league because that was not the strike zone that was supposed to be incorporated.”

Valdes also took advantage of the big strike zone, but it may have favored the Mariners a more because Garcia has better stuff than Valdes and the Angel offense is struggling far more than Seattle.

The Angels have scored only 19 runs on 43 hits in the last seven games, for an average of 2.7 runs and 6.1 hits. Leadoff batter Darin Erstad hasn’t scored a run in seven games.

No. 3 batter Tim Salmon’s ninth-inning home run off Mariner closer Kazuhiro Sasaki, which trimmed the deficit to 3-2 Thursday night, was his first run batted in in seven games.

Angel starting pitchers have yielded only 16 earned runs in 41 innings over the last six games for a 3.51 earned-run average, but the Angels are 1-5 in those games.

“Garcia pitched a great game, and you have to tip your cap,” Scioscia said. “But these are the guys we have to beat. We started to come alive late in the game, but we just couldn’t put enough pressure on him.”

Valdes matched Garcia zero for zero for five innings, in which the Mariners had only three singles and Valdes retired 10 in a row at one point. But Ichiro Suzuki’s speed and two well-placed singles keyed a two-run Mariner rally that snapped the shutout in the sixth.

Suzuki opened the inning with a chopper up the middle that nicked Valdes’ glove and caromed toward second baseman Adam Kennedy, who gloved the ball but rushed a high throw that pulled first baseman Wally Joyner off the bag.

Suzuki stole second, and Stan Javier walked. Valdes struck out one of baseball’s most dangerous hitters, Edgar Martinez, on three pitches, but John Olerud dropped a bloop single into shallow left to score Suzuki, and Bret Boone grounded Valdes’ next pitch into center field for a single and a 2-0 lead.

The Angels broke up Garcia’s shutout in the seventh when Salmon singled to left, Troy Glaus reached on a fielder’s choice and Garret Anderson lined a run-scoring double to right to make it 2-1.

Garcia got Bengie Molina to ground to third and struck out Glenallen Hill swinging at a pitch below his shins to end the inning. Until the seventh, Garcia was almost flawless, retiring the first 11 batters before Salmon’s two-out double in the fourth.

Arthur Rhodes replaced Garcia and threw a scoreless eighth, and Seattle added a key insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Olerud singled off Valdes and Boone ripped a run-scoring double to right-center off reliever Ben Weber for a 3-1 lead.

“No one likes to end up with a loss, but we feel great about the way Ismael is throwing,” Scioscia said. “We know this is going to translate into a huge season for him if he can maintain his velocity and command.”

And start against someone besides Garcia.