Angels trip M's in 10
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Jered Weaver struck out eight in nine innings in his first start since he was suspended for throwing at a batter, Vernon Wells singled home the winning run in the 10th and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 1-0 on Friday night.
Torii Hunter led off the 10th with a single against rookie Dan Cortes (0-2), advanced on a wild pitch and came home when Wells lined a 2-2 pitch to left-center. The victory ended Seattle's three-game winning streak and sent the Mariners to their 17th loss in their last 19 games at Angel Stadium.
Angels closer Jordan Walden (3-3) pitched a perfect inning for the win.
Weaver was hit with a six-game suspension from Major League Baseball last Tuesday, two days after he threw a pitch over the head of Detroit's Alex Avila during the seventh inning of a 3-0 loss to fellow Cy Young candidate Justin Verlander.
The Angels' two-time All-Star right-hander had defied a warning that plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt gave to both dugouts in that game, after Weaver complained to Wendelstedt about Carlos Guillen's showboating on a home run he hit on the previous pitch.
The Angels' ace appealed the suspension, so he was eligible to face the Mariners - a team he came in was 7-0 against with a 2.01 ERA in 10 starts at Anaheim.
Weaver scattered seven hits and lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.78. Weaver has allowed only one run over his last 30 innings against the Mariners.
Jason Vargas scattered seven hits over six innings and struck out three, the fourth time in five starts that the Mariners didn't score while he was in the game. The left-hander, a teammate of Weaver's at Long Beach State in 2004, is 0-5 over his last six starts with a 5.57 ERA since beating San Diego 6-0 with his third shutout of the season.
Vargas escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth by striking out No. 9 hitter Jeff Mathis. It was up to Mathis again to unlock the scoreless tie with two out and runners at second and third in the sixth, but he fanned again. Mathis was 0 for 3, dropping his average to .181 and his average with runners in scoring position to .173.
Seattle outfielder Trayvon Robinson made an auspicious major league debut, robbing Hunter of a two-run homer with a leaping grab above the short fence in the left field corner to end the third inning. Robinson, who played his high school ball in nearby Compton, was traded from the Dodgers to Boston on July 31 and then shipped to Seattle the same day in exchange for left-hander Erik Bedard.