SEATTLE _ Mike Trout didn't crush their hopes or victory hopes with yet another home run. The Angels didn't need his typical MVP-heroics for once in a game against the team he dominates more than the rest of the teams in baseball, who he just abuses.
And the Mariners' bullpen _ unpredictable, erratic and fairly maligned _ didn't lose them the game with some late-inning blowups or meltdowns because well, they were never really allowed to be in the game. Angels starting pitcher Dylan Bundy made certain of that in impressive fashion.
The veteran right-hander continued the restoration of a pitching career that has never come to close to reach its full potential with a complete game performance, leading the Angels to an easy 6-1 victory in the finale of the three-game series, Thursday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.
Bundy improved to 2-1 on the season, allowing one run on four hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts over the nine innings. The Mariners' lone run came in the fourth inning, when Bundy left a change-up over the middle and Daniel Vogelbach hammered it into the right-field seats.
Otherwise, the Mariners were either hitting weak ground balls or striking out on Bundy's assortment of off-speed pitches, which he was willing to throw in any count.
Conversely, the Mariners got an abbreviated start from Taijuan Walker.
Walker worked through the first three innings, allowing the minimal damage of a solo home run to Shohei Ohtani. After being diagnosed with a forearm strain following his outing on the mound Sunday, Ohtani returned from his four-day break and stayed on a 1-0 change-up away, sending it over the wall in left field for a 1-0 Angels lead.
Ohtani's home run was the only hit and base runner Walker allowed in the first three innings. That trend changed during a fourth inning in which Walker's command dissipated. The Angels knew it, changing their approach at the plate. They waited Walker out, taking pitches that weren't really even borderline and trying to force him into the strike zone with hittable pitches or take a walk. Both happened.
Trout led off the inning with a crisp single to left-center field. Walker followed by issuing walks to Anthony Rendon and Ohtani to load the bases.
Tommy La Stella followed with a single to right to score a run, and Justin Upton was hit by a first-pitch fastball to force in another that made pushed the Angels' lead to 3-1.
Walker retired the next two batters, getting Brian Goodwin to pop out in foul territory and Max Stassi to hit a deep sac fly to right. But when Walker issued a two-out walk to Luis Rengifo, who doesn't like to take walks, his outing was done. He threw 69 pitches (40 strikes), including 28 in that fourth inning.
Manager Scott Servais went to rookie Joey Gerber, who needed just one pitch to stop the bleeding, getting David Fletcher to ground into a force-out to end the inning.
The Angels tacked on some insurance runs against the Mariners' bullpen, which isn't the first or last time some form of that phrase will be used this season.
Lefty Nestor Cortes served up a two-run homer to Stassi in the eighth inning that made it 6-1. Not that it was needed, considering the Mariners' at-bats in the game.
