Donnelly Is Filling His Role Nicely

Brendan Donnelly struck out Bret Boone and Edgar Martinez at the start of the eighth inning in the Angels’ 7-5, sweep-clinching victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday night at Edison Field.

Afterward, Donnelly started toward the dugout as if the inning was over.

It wasn’t, of course, but Donnelly knew his job was done.

“I knew my job was to get the two guys, and after the last pitch I was thinking, ‘I’m out of here,’ ” Donnelly said. “I got ragged about that. [Shortstop David] Eckstein came over and said, ‘At least wait for [Manager Mike] Scioscia to get out here.’ ”

Donnelly also struck out five in 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in Saturday night’s 7-6 victory. The 31-year-old right-hander has stepped up in the absence of closer Troy Percival and left-hander Dennis Cook, who are on the disabled list.

“Right now, with Percival and Cookie down, there are no roles,” Donnelly said. “We take the ball and get people out. I’m just fortunate to get the ball, period.”

*

After drawing consecutive sellouts of more than 43,000 for the first two games of the series against the Mariners, Sunday’s game drew 34,945.

The total attendance for the series was 121,461.

“I’ve never been in the playoffs but it kind of felt like a playoff atmosphere,” said Angel left-hander Jarrod Washburn, who extended his winning streak to 12 games Sunday.

The record for a three-game series at Edison Field is 130,341 set June 28-30 against the Dodgers.

The Angels have seven sellouts this season, including five in the last 12 games.

The Angels had 10 sellouts in 1998, the year the remodeled stadium opened.

Last year, the Angels had three sellouts.

*

Seattle right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, who leads the majors with a .380 road batting average, was four for 12 with a double, two runs and a stolen base in the series.

In the fifth inning Sunday, Suzuki hit a ground ball toward the mound that Washburn deflected with his leg. The ball rolled toward first base, where Scott Spiezio fielded it while charging toward the plate. Suzuki angled off the base line and reached for first base with his left hand while diving to avoid Spiezio’s swipe tag.

Suzuki, however, could not elude second baseman Adam Kennedy’s tag when he got caught in a rundown between first and second after Jeff Cirillo’s strikeout.

*

Angel rookie John Lackey said there was nothing mysterious about the control problems he suffered Friday in his shortest outing of the season.

Lackey had pitched at least six innings in his first four starts. He lasted only 3 2/3 against the Mariners and walked five.

“It was nothing mechanical, I was just missing spots,” said Lackey, who threw only one strike in his first 10 pitches. “The first couple of hitters, I wasn’t real close. After that, when I missed I was around the zone.

“You’re always going to have a stretch where you have to battle through. It’s how you do with those stretches that determines whether you’ll be successful.”