Mariners fall apart as Angels clinch A.L. West

ANAHEIM, Calif. – That sure got away quickly Wednesday night from the Seattle Mariners, didn’t it?

A defensive misplay, a homer and that quickly, a briskly tense and scoreless game turned into a 5-0 loss to Los Angeles that, coupled with Oakland’s loss, clinched the A.L. West for the Angels.

The loss dropped the Mariners (81-70) to two games behind Oakland and Kansas City in the chase for the American League’s final wild-card berth with 11 games remaining.

For six-plus innings, this was a marvelous pitchers’ duel between Angels veteran C.J. Wilson and Mariners rookie James Paxton.

Then … the trap door opened on the Mariners.

Paxton seemed in complete command before yielding a one-out single to Howie Kendrick through the right side in the seventh inning.

Then disaster struck.

David Freese hit a sinking liner into the right-center gap that caught right fielder Chris Denorfia in no-man’s land. Denorfia pulled up late and tried to play the ball on a hop.

And the ball skipped past him.

Kendrick scored all the way from first, and Freese ended up at second. The scoring was a single, an error, no RBI … but one enormous run.

Or so it seemed.

After Tony Campana replaced Freese as a pinch-runner, Paxton tried to get Erick Aybar to chase a few pitches before issuing an intentional walk. Paxton struck out Chris Iannetta before the Mariners went to the bullpen.

And, boy, that’s when the disaster turned epic.

C.J. Cron crushed a 1-1 fastball from reliever Danny Farquhar for a no-doubt homer to left-center field and that pitchers’ duel was suddenly a four-run spread.

And the Angels weren’t done.

Farquhar walked Collin Cowgill on a borderline pitch before Kole Calhoun painted the right-field line with an RBI double for a 5-0 lead.

Dominic Leone replaced Farquhar and ended the inning by striking out Mike Trout – Trout’s fourth strikeout of the game, not that it particularly mattered.

The final damage showed Paxton (6-3) with a line showing three runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Wilson (13-9) was brilliant in limiting the Mariners to one hit in seven innings, a clean single by Justin Smoak in the fifth inning. Joe Smith and Huston Street closed out the victory.