Angels’ Jered Weaver throws a gem against Mariners
Reporting from Seattle --What happens when a movable force meets a stoppable object?
You get a matchup like the one that took place Friday at Safeco Field, where the Angels, with the most pliant pitching staff in the majors in May, faced the Mariners and baseball’s most inoffensive offense.
Opponents were hitting .335 against the Angels this month; the Mariners were batting .230 for the season. And neither team had won since April.
Clearly, something had to give.
“Somebody,” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said beforehand, “is gonna win tonight.”
That somebody turned out to be his Angels, who rode a brilliant performance by right-hander Jered Weaver, three RBIs from both Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales and a trio of fourth-inning home runs to an 8-0 win that snapped a seven-game losing streak, the team’s longest in 10 seasons.
“We’re not looking back,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. “There was a sense of confidence that was in the dugout and out on the field.”
How rare -- and sad -- was this matchup? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Angels and Mariners squared off with both teams at least six games under .500 was August of 1994, when Felix Hernandez, Seattle’s starter on Friday, was still in grade school.
Hernandez probably pitched better then than he did Friday, when he walked two of the first three hitters ahead of Morales’ bases-loaded double. In the fourth he gave up three home runs in eight pitches, the last one catcher Ryan Budde’s first in the majors.
Hernandez (2-3) was gone a batter later, the 10-out outing his shortest in more than three seasons. And the seven earned runs he yielded were more than he had given up in his last four starts.
“To get to a great pitcher like that is a plus,” said Weaver who, like his manager, isn’t looking back either. “Hopefully, we can carry this into tomorrow.”
They can if they another effort like the one Weaver (4-1) turned in, retiring 20 of the first 22 batters he faced and holding the Mariners without a hit until Ken Griffey Jr., grounded a single to right with two outs in the seventh.
“I would be lying if everyone didn’t have their eye on it,” Scioscia said of the possibility of a no-hitter. “But no one was consumed with it.”
Weaver gave up a one-out double to Michael Saunders an inning later before leaving in favor of Scot Shields, who got the last five outs to complete the shutout.
Given recent history, however, shutting out the Mariners isn’t much of a feat. Seattle, averaging 3.1 runs a game, hasn’t scored since Wednesday. But for the slumping Angels, who have had more team meetings than wins in May, the performance was clutch.
“Location was the key,” Weaver said. “Obviously we’ve been struggling a little bit. But tonight we showed how our game is supposed to be played. And how we should go about things.”
Weaver, who struck out seven, combined with Jose Arredondo on the Angels’ last no-hitter, two years at Dodger Stadium. But he said he never started to think about getting another on Friday.
“Not really,” he said. “I wasn’t feeling it because I know there was a lot more to go. I was just trying to stay focused.”
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