Mariners hold off Angels 4-3 for 10th win in 12 games

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Seattle relievers made the pitches they needed to and helped the Mariners get another big win.

Ketel Marte drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly, Leonys Martin scored from second base on a bunt, and the Mariners held on for a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.

Robinson Cano had three hits, Kyle Seager and Chris Iannetta each had two hits and scored a run as the Mariners won for the 10th time in 12 games to move two games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card.

Drew Storen (3-3) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win. Mariners closer Edwin Diaz, who touched 101 mph on the gun, gave up a run and loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but used his off-speed pitches effectively to strike out Jefry Marte and get Andrelton Simmons to ground out for his eighth save in eight chances.

''Obviously our bullpen weathered the storm tonight,'' Mariners manager Scott Servais said. ''We made pitches and got outs, so it was a nice win.'''

On the final out, third baseman Seager made a diving stop on Simmons' grounder and threw him out a second before he tagged the bag.

''A heck of a battle with Simmons,'' Servais said. ''The last pitch of the day slipped on him. It probably would have been ball four but Simmons is aggressive and you can't say enough about the defensive game of Kyle Seager. Him making that big play at the end was awesome.''

Yunel Escobar went 5 for 5 for Los Angeles, his fifth career five-hit game. Since 2000, only Ichiro and Johnny Damon have more with seven each.

Mike Trout was up twice with runners on but struck out both times. With two on in the seventh, Arquimendes Caminero struck him out with three straight 100 mile-per-hour fastballs to end the inning.

''I missed a bunch of pitches and I keep telling the young guys, `If you get a pitch to hit, you can't miss it.' I missed it a couple times,'' Trout said. ''You've got to be up there looking for a fastball. You can't be sitting slider when he throws 100, you've got to catch up to it.''

Tyler Skaggs (1-2) gave up four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

''Tyler had trouble repeating pitches tonight,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ''Eighty-two pitches over three innings - that's just not going to cut it. Hopefully he'll learn from this and get back to where he needs to be.''

With the score tied at 2-all, Iannetta led off the fourth with a single to center and moved to third on Martin's single. After Martin stole second, Ketel Marte's sacrifice fly drove in Iannetta with the go-ahead run. Shawn O'Malley then laid down a bunt and reached base safely. Jefry Marte thired tried to throw Martin out at third but he was already breaking for home plate and scored easily on the relay.

Mike Morin then came on in relief of Skaggs, who lost his second straight decision.

''I'm throwing way too many pitches,'' Skaggs said. ''I think I tried to be too fine. I ended up walking one guy and hitting a guy and things kind of spiraled out of control from there. It was a frustrating outing for me.''

Cody Martin, called up one day earlier to fill a vacancy in the rotation, limited the Angels to two runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

The Angels' first two runs came in the first inning with Escobar scoring on Albert Pujols' single and Kole Calhoun on a sacrifice fly by Marte. Pujols now has 93 RBI, tying him for second in the American League with David Ortiz.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Mariners: LHP James Paxton played catch and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Thursday. If he throws without any tightness in his forearm, he'll then make a rehab start with Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday or Sunday. Paxton was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a left elbow contusion.

Angels: C Geovany Soto was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with right knee inflammation. Soto was scratched from the lineup on Tuesday and had fluid drained from his surgically-repaired knee. C Carlos Perez was called up to take his place on the roster.

UP NEXT

Mariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma will close out the series looking for his ninth win in 10 starts. Iwakuma is 8-3 with a with a 2.86 ERA in 16 games (15 starts) against Los Angeles.

Angels: RHP Matt Shoemaker is looking for his first win against Seattle this season. He's 3-4 with a 3.91 ERA against the Mariners but 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in 2016.