The Los Angeles Angels (46-38) moved to within 1 1/2 games of the Houston Astros for the top spot in the American League West standings with a thrilling victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night. The streaking Angels will look to slice that deficit even further when they square off with the Seattle Mariners (39-46) in Game 1 of their four-game series tonight.
Read on below for a breakdown of this divisional matchup and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the much-anticipated clash between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates here.
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Los Angeles Angels vs. Seattle Mariners Betting Preview
Where: Safeco Field, Seattle
When: Thursday, July 9, 10:10 PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Angels (+112) at Seattle Mariners (-122); total: 6.5 – view all MLB lines
Betting on the Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels extended their winning streak to five games with a nerve-wracking 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. Second baseman Johnny Giavotella was the hero for the Angels as he knocked in the go-ahead run with a clutch bases-loaded single in the top of the ninth inning. With the victory, the Angels are now a season-high eight games over .500.
[sc:MLB240banner ]The Angels will look to keep the momentum going when they take on the struggling Seattle Mariners later tonight. Starting for the Angels this evening is Garrett Richards (9-5, 3.35 ERA). The Angels have won four of their last five games with Richards as their starter. He has surrendered only three runs in 14.2 innings against Seattle this season.
He was superb in his last start for the Angels, allowing just one run on six hits in 7.2 innings of action in Los Angeles’ 8-2 win against the Texas Rangers on July 2. Since failing to get out of the first inning in his start against the New York Yankees on June 6, Richards has now gone at least six innings in each of his last five games. During that stretch, he has allowed just eight earned runs in 35.1 innings.
Richards can’t do it all alone, though, and he needs the Angels’ offense to pick up the scoring slack as well. Expected to lead the Angels’ lineup tonight is Mike Trout. The superstar center fielder is 20-of-58 (.345) with three homers and 12 RBIs in his career against Seattle starter Felix Hernandez. He’s the only Angels player to have a batting average of at least .300 against the former AL Cy Young winner.
Trout was spectacular in the series finale against Colorado, blasting two homers off Rockies lefty Chris Rusin. It was the fifth multi-homer game of Trout’s career, and his second this season. With his performance, Trout lifted his season tally to 24 homers, just two behind American League leader and teammate Albert Pujols who has 26.
Seattle’s losing woes continued on Wednesday as it suffered a gut-wrenching 5-4 defeat to the Detroit Tigers in their series finale. The Mariners had no answer for rookie Jefry Marte who homered and drove in two runs in his first start for the Tigers.
The Mariners will look to return to winning ways tonight when they take on the Los Angeles Angels in the opening game of their four-game set. The Mariners will fancy their chances of doing just that as they have ace Felix Hernandez (10-5, 3.02 ERA) on the mound tonight. Over his last nine starts against the Angels, he is 5-0 with a 0.93 ERA. Hernandez is 2-0 against the Angels this year, posting an incredible 0.90 ERA with 26 strikeouts and nine hits over 20 innings.
Hernandez, however, has struggled of late, for the Mariners. He is just 1-3 with a 5.25 ERA over his last five starts after losing on Saturday to the Oakland Athletics on a season-high 10 hits. He has lost his past two decisions after becoming the first American League 10-game winner on June 17.
With that said, Hernandez needs Seattle’s offense to wake up from its slumber. The Mariners were 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position in their defeat to the Tigers yesterday. In addition to that, they left a whopping 11 runners on base in that heart-breaking loss. Expected to lead the Mariners lineup tonight is Robinson Cano. The second baseman is batting 12-of-30 in his last seven games with two homers and five RBIs. Cano is 5-of-17 (.294) lifetime against Los Angeles starter Garrett Richards.
The total has gone over in the Mariners’ last four home games.
