SEATTLE -AP- Ariel Miranda settled in after taking a liner off his leg during a shaky second inning, and the Mariners offense took over after that.Danny Valencia homered and had four hits, Miranda pitched seven strong innings and Seattle beat the Los Angeles Angels 11-3 on Thursday night.Miranda (3-2) allowed two runs -- both in the second inning -- seven hits and a walk while striking out five. He was struck by a shot from Yunel Escobar, then made a throwing error, but escaped the second inning and cruised from there. 
"Great job by Ariel Miranda, can't say enough," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "Obviously, he took the shot off the calf there early in the game, and he hung in there. To get through seven innings when the pitch count was up after the first two was really nice to see."Valencia hit a solo shot in the seventh and had three RBI as Seattle matched its season high with 16 hits.Ben Gamel had three hits and two walks, scored three times and drove in two runs for Seattle, which built a 6-2 lead in four innings against Alex Meyer (0-1).Meyer, called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Salt Lake, was tagged for six runs, eight hits, three walks and a hit batter."You'd like to go out there and go more than four innings," Meyer said. "But, it's just a matter of being better for the next one."Seattle took the lead with a three-run third. Gamel walked to open the inning and came around on two-out singles by Kyle Seager and Valencia. Guillermo Heredia followed with a blooped two-run double down the right field line.The Mariners added two more in the fourth on a single by Jean Segura, an RBI double by Gamel and a single by Nelson Cruz.Juan Graterol's two-run single put the Angels up 2-1 in the second after the Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first when Cruz extending his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI double.Valencia, who got off to a horrid start, is batting .316 with three homers, a double and seven runs scored in his last seven games."If it's the middle of the season, you can kind of weather it a little bit," said Valencia, who hit .287 with 17 homers last season with Oakland. "But, obviously being at the very beginning of the year, all you see is the numbers. But it's a long season and hopefully I can just contribute to the team winning games."
"Great job by Ariel Miranda, can't say enough," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "Obviously, he took the shot off the calf there early in the game, and he hung in there. To get through seven innings when the pitch count was up after the first two was really nice to see."Valencia hit a solo shot in the seventh and had three RBI as Seattle matched its season high with 16 hits.Ben Gamel had three hits and two walks, scored three times and drove in two runs for Seattle, which built a 6-2 lead in four innings against Alex Meyer (0-1).Meyer, called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Salt Lake, was tagged for six runs, eight hits, three walks and a hit batter."You'd like to go out there and go more than four innings," Meyer said. "But, it's just a matter of being better for the next one."Seattle took the lead with a three-run third. Gamel walked to open the inning and came around on two-out singles by Kyle Seager and Valencia. Guillermo Heredia followed with a blooped two-run double down the right field line.The Mariners added two more in the fourth on a single by Jean Segura, an RBI double by Gamel and a single by Nelson Cruz.Juan Graterol's two-run single put the Angels up 2-1 in the second after the Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first when Cruz extending his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI double.Valencia, who got off to a horrid start, is batting .316 with three homers, a double and seven runs scored in his last seven games."If it's the middle of the season, you can kind of weather it a little bit," said Valencia, who hit .287 with 17 homers last season with Oakland. "But, obviously being at the very beginning of the year, all you see is the numbers. But it's a long season and hopefully I can just contribute to the team winning games."
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
