Angels Tossed Aside

The A Team? The Angels were more like the E Team on Thursday against the Seattle Mariners, committing two errors during a five-run sixth inning that turned a slim lead into a considerable deficit during a 6-2 loss before 40,032 at Angel Stadium.

Shortstop Chone Figgins and center fielder Garret Anderson made bad throws in the inning, allowing the Mariners to send nine men to the plate and knock out starter John Lackey, who had been sharp over the first five innings.

The decisive inning appeared to start auspiciously for the Angels when Ichiro Suzuki hit a sharp grounder to Figgins, but the shortstop’s high throw to first forced Darin Erstad to leap off the base. John Olerud followed with a hit-and-run single to center, moving Suzuki to third, and Suzuki came home to tie the score at 2-2 on Edgar Martinez’s single to left.

One out later, Raul Ibanez hit a run-scoring single to center, and Rich Aurilia followed with a single to center to score Martinez. A hard-charging Anderson tried to throw Ibanez out going to third but threw the ball well over the head of third baseman Shane Halter. Ibanez came home on the error, giving Seattle a 5-2 lead, and Aurilia took third.

Reliever Ben Weber entered and gave up Randy Winn’s bloop single to left over a drawn-in infield that scored Aurilia with the fifth run of the inning.

The Angels, attempting to complete their second three-game sweep of the Mariners in 10 days, failed to supply any late-inning heroics after rallying for a victory Tuesday and pulling out a win in the ninth inning Wednesday.

Adam Kennedy provided the only offense the Angels managed off Seattle starter Ryan Franklin with a two-run homer in the second that bounced high off the foul pole down the right-field line. Franklin (1-0) gave up Kennedy’s team-leading 11th and 12th runs batted in but little else, retiring 18 of the last 20 batters he faced during his eight-inning outing.

“He’s tough on us,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said of Franklin, who has a 2.55 career earned-run average against the Angels, his lowest against any team. “He’s not overpowering, but he’s got good command and changes speeds well.”

Seattle closer Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless ninth for the Mariners, who ended a seven-game losing streak to the Angels dating to last season. Seattle is in last place with a 2-7 record, which ties the worst start in franchise history.

The Angels (6-4) can move into first place in the American League West tonight with a victory over the Oakland Athletics (6-3) in the opener of a three-game series at Angel Stadium.

Five days after throwing glorified batting practice to the Texas Rangers in his season debut, Lackey temporarily gave the Angels reason to think they made the right decision by keeping him in their rotation despite an up-and-down 2003 and a rickety spring.

The right-hander retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced before hitting Bret Boone with a pitch on the hand with two out in the fourth. Boone fell to the ground in agony but remained in the game, stole second and scored on Ibanez’s double past a diving Erstad down the right-field line.

Lackey (0-2) retired the next four batters before things unraveled in the sixth. He gave up six runs -- four earned -- and six hits over 5 1/3 innings while lowering his ERA from 17.18 to 11.00.

“I felt like I threw the ball good enough to win a lot of nights,” said Lackey, who issued no walks and had no strikeouts. “I got the ball down in the zone and threw my breaking ball for strikes. I had better tempo and a better rhythm.”

Said Scioscia: “Early on he threw up some zeroes and gave us a chance to get something going. It’s a step forward, no doubt.”

Lackey said he took no comfort in improved performances that accompany defeat.

“It’s never easy to accept losing,” he said.