April 24--Wade Miley survived a first-inning knockdown to pitch into the eighth inning Sunday, and Kyle Seager, Leonys Martin and Seth Smith each hit home runs to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 9-4 victory over the Angels in Angel Stadium.
Miley was tagged for three runs and three hits, including a slump-busting two-run home run by Albert Pujols, in the first. But the veteran left-hander blanked the Angels on two hits over the next six innings and got the first out of the eighth before yielding a solo homer to Yunel Escobar that made it 7-4.
Angels starter Matt Shoemaker lasted only three innings, giving up seven runs -- six earned -- and six hits, striking out four and walking three to fall to 1-3 with a 6.87 earned-run average in four starts, two of them stellar, two of them shaky.
The teams took 35 minutes to complete a first inning that included 66 pitches -- 32 by Shoemaker -- seven runs and six hits, including two home runs.
Shoemaker issued a leadoff walk to Nori Aoki, who took third on Smith's single. Nelson Cruz's one-out infield single scored a run, and Seager, who entered with a major league-low .127 average, ripped a 2-0 curve into the right-field seats for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead.
Miley dominated the Angels in two starts for the Boston Red Sox last season, allowing one earned run in 15 innings and taking a perfect game into the fifth inning of a May 23 game in Fenway Park and the sixth inning of a July 16 game in Anaheim.
But Miley was far from perfect in the first inning Sunday. Mike Trout singled with two outs, and Pujols snapped a career-high 0-for-26 skid when he crushed a 92-mph fastball over the left-center field wall for a two-run homer that traveled an estimated 448 feet.
The shot, which sliced Seattle's lead in half, 4-2, was Pujols' third this season and 563rd of his career, tying him with Reggie Jackson for 13th place on baseball's all-time list. Kole Calhoun walked and Geovany Soto lined a run-scoring double into right-center to pull the Angels to within 4-3.
But Miley settled down, retiring 11 in a row during one stretch from the third through seventh, and the Mariners tacked on three more runs in the fourth for a 7-3 lead.
Steve Clevenger opened the inning with a walk, and Martin vaporized a 2-1 changeup from Shoemaker, sending a liner with an exit velocity of 109 mph over the right-field wall for a two-run homer.
Ketel Marte doubled to right, took third on Escobar's fielding error at third base and scored on Smith's double-play grounder. Aoki drew a two-out walk off reliever Cory Rasmus in the ninth, and Smith drove a two-run homer to right to push Seattle's lead to 9-4.
@MikeDiGiovanna
