The Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim opened up a series in Seattle on Thursday night, and the Mariners displayed incredible offense. With Felix Hernandez on the mound and that much offensive production, the Angels were in trouble.

After some past outings from Hernandez that weren't necessarily typical of Felix, he sure bounced back Thursday with a very strong outing. He went seven innings giving up just five hits while striking out six and walking two. The King was on his game and the Angels had no answer for Felix's good stuff that they saw up at the plate.

There was a close call for the Angels in the seventh as they loaded the bases with just one out, but Felix worked his magic again to thwart Anaheim's rally and got out of the inning unscathed.

The Mariners on the other hand faced Angels starter Garrett Richards who didn't really have his best stuff working. Richards labored through 5.1 innings giving up four runs on 12 hits while walking one and striking out three. Seattle's bats were going crazy and it started right from the get-go when leadoff batter Logan Morrison took Richards deep in the first inning to start off the Mariners night at the plate.

What also helped Seattle in this one was hitting with runners in scoring position. Wednesday versus Detroit, Seattle was 0-for-14 with RISP, but they found their clutch gene on Thursday and turned that around by going 5-for-15 with RISP. That is a humongous difference and you can see the result when that happens.

Five Mariners had 2-hits in this game and two more, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager,  tallied three hits apiece off of Angels pitching. The 19 hits by the Mariners is a season high.

A surprise as of late has been Mark Trumbo for Seattle. Since coming over from Arizona in June, he hasn't been doing much, but lately he has been on a tear as he has hits in his last five ballgames and multi-hit games in his last three. It isn't a huge sample size, but if he can turn it around for Seattle, their fortunes could change as they find themselves just six games out in the wild card race.

Anaheim got their lone runs of the ballgame behind a Kole Calhoun solo shot in the eighth and in the ninth on a fielders choice by David Freese.

Carson Smith was forced into duty with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the ninth and picked up the save to preserve the victory for Seattle.

The series continues Friday with game two at Safeco Field when lefties Mike Montgomery and Hector Santiago make the start for the Mariners and Angels respectively.

WP: Felix Hernandez (11-5, 2.84 ERA)

LP: Garrett Richards (9-6, 3.53 ERA)

SV: Carson Smith (6 saves, 1.78 ERA)

Mariners Make Roster Moves

Before the ballgame, the Mariners made some roster moves:

  • Placed LHP Charlie Furbush on 15 day DL with left biceps tendinitis
  • Sent down RHP Mayckol Guaipe to AAA Tacoma
  • Recalled RHP Danny Farquhar, LHP Vidal Nuno, and 1B/DH Jesus Montero.
  • LHP J.A. Happ was sent down to Single-A Bakersfield to clear roster spot for Montero. Happ made the start Wednesday for Seattle and will not be needed for the Mariners before the All Star break.