| SEASON | CAREER |
| W1 | 1 |
| L2 | 2 |
| G14 | 14 |
| IP46.2 | 46.0 |
| BB8 | 8 |
| SO39 | 39 |
| SEASON | CAREER |
| W14 | 90 |
| L5 | 78 |
| G32 | 270 |
| IP200.0 | 1479.0 |
| BB50 | 375 |
| SO184 | 1316 |
Despite making up some ground over the weekend, the Los Angeles Angels still aren't in position for one of the AL's two wild-card berths.
Keeping things going against the visiting Seattle Mariners could prove crucial if they hope to make the playoffs.
The red-hot Zack Greinke looks to lead the Angels a fourth consecutive win Tuesday night in the first of six games against the Mariners over the next nine days.
Albert Pujols and Kendrys Morales each had two RBIs as Los Angeles (84-69) completed a three-game sweep of Chicago with Sunday's 4-1 victory. The Angels, who limited the White Sox to five runs in the series, have gone 22-9 while posting a major league-leading 2.83 ERA since Aug. 21.
Sitting in third place in the wild-card standings with nine games remaining, Los Angeles is trying to catch division rival Oakland or Baltimore.
"Obviously there's a little bit of scoreboard watching going on now as we dwindle now here," Jered Weaver said after earning his AL-leading 19th win Sunday. "But we've got to do what we've got to do and not worry about what other teams are doing. It's obviously a great sweep, and hopefully we can keep it rolling against Seattle."
The Angels have to like their chances of doing just that with Greinke (5-2, 3.51 ERA) on the mound.
The right-hander has gone 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA over his last six games while holding opponents to a .184 average. The Angels, though, have scored three runs over his last two starts and lost both.
Greinke struck out eight over eight innings of one-run ball Thursday in a 3-1 loss to Texas, getting removed after 109 pitches and watching Ernesto Frieri serve up the tiebreaking two-run homer.
"I think he's got a range that he's comfortable in, we're comfortable in, and we're not going to extend anybody," manager Mike Scioscia told the team's official website. "We didn't lose this game because of what Zack didn't do out there. He pitched a terrific game, got us to a certain point, and I think when you start to get in a certain range, you want to be careful."
Frieri also gave up a pair of ninth-inning homers during a 3-2 loss at Kansas City on Sept. 15 after Greinke threw 109 pitches over 8 1-3 innings and left in line for the win.
Greinke went 4-1 with a 1.97 ERA over nine career starts versus the Mariners (72-81) while with Kansas City but hasn't faced them since 2010.
Los Angeles follows this three-game set with six road games to close the regular season, three at Texas and three at Seattle.
The Mariners posted back-to-back wins over the Rangers before falling 3-2 in Sunday's series finale, their seventh loss in 10 games. Seattle is 1 for 39 with runners in scoring position over the last five.
"Had a chance to sweep here today, we're just a little bit short right now," manager Eric Wedge told the Mariners' official website.
Seattle now turns to rookie Erasmo Ramirez (1-2, 3.28), who has been terrific in two September starts after missing more than two months with a right elbow flexor strain.
He gave up two runs over seven innings to earn his first big league win Sept. 11 in a 4-3 victory at Toronto, then carried a shutout into the ninth before allowing two runs to Baltimore in a 4-2, 18-inning loss last Tuesday.
"(Ramirez) was fantastic. He threw a great ballgame," Wedge said. "... That is what you want to see, that is what you love to see."
Ramirez will be getting his first look at Mike Trout , whose major league-leading 122 runs scored are two shy of Vladimir Guerrero 's franchise record set in 2004.
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AVG
HRRUNSSBSOBBOBPSLGOPSERAQSSOBBSVBSBAAWHIPE
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Chone Figgins | 24 | .083 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | .080 | .205 | .125 |
| John Jaso | 9 | .333 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .777 | .444 |
| Miguel Olivo | 5 | .400 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .400 | 2.000 | 1.600 |
| Brendan Ryan | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Michael Saunders | 5 | .200 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .333 | .533 | .200 |
| Justin Smoak | 3 | .333 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .666 | .333 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 25 | .320 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | .370 | .690 | .320 |
| Casper Wells | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
 Seattle Mariners |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| September 15, 2012 | Casper Wells | Day-to-Day | Stiff neck |
| August 31, 2012 | Michael Saunders | Day-to-Day | Left game - strained groin |
| August 25, 2012 | Michael Saunders | Day-to-Day | Sore groin |
| August 13, 2012 | Mike Carp | 15-Day DL | Strained left groin muscle |
| August 13, 2012 | Mike Carp | 15-Day DL | Strained left groin muscle |
| August 06, 2012 | Brendan Ryan | Day-to-Day | Left elbow contusion |
 Los Angeles Angels |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| August 30, 2012 | Howie Kendrick | Day-to-Day | Left game - sore right knee |
| August 22, 2012 | Albert Pujols | Day-to-Day | Left game - right calf tightness |
| August 19, 2012 | Peter Bourjos | 15-Day DL | Sore right wrist |
| August 19, 2012 | Peter Bourjos | 15-Day DL | Sore right wrist |
| August 13, 2012 | C.J. Wilson | Day-to-Day | Left game - bruised left hand |
| July 30, 2012 | Mark Trumbo | Day-to-Day | Back spasms |
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Zack Greinke made the most of his five innings on the mound Tuesday night, and this time Ernesto Frieri didn't blow the lead for him.
Greinke had a season-high 13 strikeouts on a night when the Angels' staff tied a major league record with 20 in a nine-inning game, and Los Angeles got home runs from Torii Hunter and Erick Aybar in a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners that kept the Angels two games behind Oakland for the second AL wild card.
According to ESPN Stats, Greinke became the first pitcher in the live-ball era (since 1920) to strike out 13 batters in a start that lasted only five innings. Randy Johnson had 13 through his first five frames on July 4, 2001, for Arizona against Houston, but he threw one more inning.
"It was kind of fluky. I was trying to get ahead of guys and it just kind of worked out that way," Greinke said. "I was just throwing strikes, and I had 27 pitches in the first inning because there were long at-bats. So there was really nothing I could do about it.
"The next couple of innings I was trying to get balls put in play so that I could get a little deeper into the game, but it wasn't happening that way," he added. "I wasn't trying to get strikeouts, but I'm not complaining. I got a bunch of them early, but later on it was hard to go for a strikeout because there were guys in scoring position in a close game."
Justin Smoak homered from both sides of the plate for the Mariners, a solo shot in the fourth against Greinke and a two-run drive off lefty Scott Downs during a three-run seventh that sliced the Angels' lead to 5-4.
Greinke (6-2) won his fifth straight decision over seven starts, allowing seven hits and escaping a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by fanning Eric Thames . The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner came within two strikeouts of his career best, set Aug. 25, 2009, with Kansas City against Cleveland.
"I used to try to strike everyone out," said Greinke, who had a career-high 242 Ks in 2009 with the Royals and 201 two years later. "But the No. 1 problem with it is that it just takes too much energy out of you sometimes and wears you down later in the game. Maybe that's what Mike was thinking."
Greinke left after 110 pitches because of a pitch count set by manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher - which burned the Angels in each of the right-hander's previous two outings.
"Zack has the kind of stuff where he can strike out a lot of guys on any given day," Scioscia said. "Those other games where he was into about 109-110 pitches, he was working hard to get there. And tonight he bounced back very well. I don't know if I've ever seen a guy throw so many pitches in five innings and be so successful. Usually when you do that, you're having a tough night. But he struck out 13 guys and had only one run on the board."
Greinke's previous two outings both resulted in 109-pitch no-decisions. In the first one, he allowed one run in 8 1-3 innings at Kansas City before Frieri gave up the tying and go-ahead runs on homers. Last Thursday, Greinke gave up one run over eight innings against Texas before Frieri yielded a tiebreaking, two-run homer by Adrian Beltre .
"The last two games that I pitched when Zack pitched, I wasn't that good," Frieri said. "But tonight I said: `That won't happen this time. I've got to do my best this time.' I went out there and threw quality strikes. That's what I need to do every time - hit my spots. Before, I was leaving the ball in the middle of the plate against good hitters and they didn't miss them."
In all, Greinke has 16 wins this season, tying his career high. The nine-year veteran has a 3.40 ERA in 12 starts since joining the Angels in a trade with Milwaukee on July 27. He was 9-2 with a 3.44 ERA in 21 starts for the Brewers.
"Greinke's got good stuff, so we knew coming in tonight that we had to go out there swinging in every at-bat," Smoak said. "We had some good at-bats against him, but we couldn't put that ball in play with two strikes. When a guy throws stuff like that, you just go up there and battle. And he definitely won most of those battles."
Garrett Richards relieved Greinke and struck out the side in the sixth before giving way to Downs. Kevin Jepsen threw 1 1-3 scoreless innings, and Frieri redeemed himself with a perfect ninth for his 22nd save in 24 chances.
The Angels scored a pair of unearned runs in the first after third baseman Kyle Seager booted a routine grounder by leadoff hitter Mike Trout . Albert Pujols hit an RBI single and Alberto Callaspo had a sacrifice fly. The Mariners came in with the best fielding percentage in the majors, one point higher than the White Sox.
Hunter made it 4-1 in the fifth with his 16th homer after a single by Trout. Aybar added his eighth of the season in the sixth.
Erasmo Ramirez (1-3) was charged with five runs - three earned - and seven hits over six innings in his seventh major league start.
Smoak accounted for Seattle's first run with a drive that barely cleared the 18-foot wall in right field. Scioscia thought there was fan interference on the play and asked second base umpire Lance Barksdale to look at it on replay with a couple of his partners, which they did.
Franklin Gutierrez 's RBI double in the seventh preceded Smoak's two-out homer, ending a stretch in which the Mariners were 1 for 47 with runners in scoring position - including an 18-inning home loss to Baltimore when they were 0 for 17 in those situations.
NOTES: Angels backup catcher Bobby Wilson , a teammate of Greinke's when they played AAU ball in Florida, has caught him only once since they were reunited with Los Angeles. That was on Aug. 19, when Greinke gave up six runs over six innings in an 8-3 loss to Toronto. He hasn't lost since. ... Seattle OF Michael Saunders was in Castle Rock, Colo., for the birth of his daughter, after flying out of Seattle following Sunday's game. ... Trout scored two runs, increasing his major league-leading total to 124 and tying the Angels record that Vladimir Guerrero set in 2004.
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Seattle Mariners
