Miller, Ramirez lead Mariners past LA Angels 8-3
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Brad Miller hit two homers, Erasmo Ramirez pitched seven innings of six-hit ball, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-3 Tuesday night for their second win of the season.
Justin Smoak hit a three-run double, while Abraham Almonte and Dustin Ackley also had RBI doubles as the Mariners followed up their 10-3 win on opening day with another surprising offensive barrage.
Seattle scored 16 runs in its first 15 innings of the year while beating Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson, their AL West rivals' two best starters.
Wilson (0-1) labored into the sixth inning for the Angels, who are off to their first 0-2 start since 2001.
Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer and Josh Hamilton had two hits for the Angels, who spent the entire spring determined to avoid yet another slow start, a prime reason for Los Angeles' four-year postseason absence.
Ramirez (1-0) backed up his solid spring training with impressive work against the Angels' star-studded lineup, striking out six without walking a batter. He retired 11 straight after squelching the Angels' rally in the fourth inning.
Miller provided an unexpected power burst with a solo homer in the fifth and a two-run shot in the ninth, while Smoak has six RBIs in the Mariners' first two games. He cleared the bases in the third after Wilson intentionally walked $240 million man Robinson Cano, who went 1 for 3 with two walks in his second game for Seattle.
Wilson, who had a career-best 17 wins last season for the Angels, needed 95 pitches to get through the first five innings against Seattle. Wilson gave up eight hits and had eight strikeouts, including the 1,000th of his career.
Ibanez has struck out five times already this season, but he trimmed his former team's lead with his first homer for the Angels in the fourth.
Ackley chased Wilson on his 114th pitch, drilling a double off the right-field wall in the sixth.
Albert Pujols doubled in the eighth and scored on Cano's two-out throwing error, but Joe Beimel relieved Tom Wilhelmsen and picked David Freese off first base, ending the inning before throwing a pitch.
Freese got his first hit for the Angels in the second inning, but is off to a 1-for-8 start.
Mike Trout went 0 for 3 and was hit by a pitch on his bobblehead night.
Seattle closer Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth in the former Angels reliever's first appearance for his new team.
NOTES: Seattle OF Stefen Romero went 0 for 4 in his major league debut. ... Angels relievers Dane De La Rosa and Sean Burnett will throw a simulated game in Anaheim on Wednesday before deciding the next step in their recovery from injuries. ... In just his fifth season as a starting pitcher, Wilson fanned Kyle Seager for his 1,000th career strikeout. The former Texas reliever is the 41st active player to reach the milestone. ... Mariners DH Corey Hart got his first hit for his new club, an infield single in the sixth.