Santiago’s 2-hit gem secures sweep in Seattle

SEATTLE — The Angels came into Seattle and flipped the script on the Mariners, with a 3-0 victory on Sunday sealing a surprising three-game series sweep.

Safeco Field was buzzing with 40,852 fans and hoping that the home team, which held first place in the American League West, would salvage one game from the sub-.500 visitors. But the Angels got a terrific start from left-hander Hector Santiago, who gave up only two hits over eight shutout innings, and continued to peck away at the Mariners on the offensive side of the ball.

Santiago didn’t allow a hit until Mariners utility man Shawn O’Malley bunted for a hit to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. By then, the Angels had scratched out a run in the fifth inning off Mariners ace Felix Hernandez on a Kole Calhoun RBI single, and the way Santiago was pitching, it turned out to be enough. Santiago finished with five strikeouts, one walk and two hit batters. He threw 115 pitches and gave way to closer Joe Smith, who pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Hernandez was pretty good, too. He made it into the eighth inning, striking out nine batters, but his 1-0 deficit became 3-0 when he walked Calhoun and allowed a single to Mike Trout, paving the way for Daniel Nava, who singled in the two insurance runs off Mariners reliever Nick Vincent. The loss put the Mariners back into second place in the division behind the Texas Rangers.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDSheer dominance: Santiago saw his velocity drop gradually in each of his last three starts, a stretch in which he gave up 11 runs and struck out …

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