Trout’s homer, 4 RBIs not enough as M’s rally

SEATTLE — On a night they retired Ken Griffey Jr.’s No. 24, utility infielder Shawn O’Malley joked before the game about how he was only 628 career homers behind the Mariners all-time great. Then O’Malley went about narrowing the gap, launching a three-run blast in the seventh inning to lift Seattle to an 8-6 victory over the Angels in front of Saturday’s sellout crowd of 45,618.

O’Malley, a 28-year-old who was released by the Angels two years ago, not only tallied his third career homer and second of this season, he added a defensive gem in the eighth inning at shortstop as the Mariners rallied from a 5-1 deficit. Franklin Gutierrez and Guillermo Heredia also had home runs for Seattle.

Until O’Malley’s late heroics, Angels center fielder Mike Trout threatened to steal some of Griffey’s thunder himself as he racked up four RBIs on a home run and triple. For the second straight night, Trout launched a three-run homer before the Mariners had recorded an out, but again the Halos couldn’t make it stand up.

In his third start since coming back from his 2014 Tommy John surgery, Tyler Skaggs allowed four runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings. He took a no-decision to remain 1-0 with a 2.04 ERA. The Angels have lost eight of their past 10 road games in falling to 49-61. The Mariners are 56-53, seven games back of front-running Texas in the American League West and 4 1/2 games out of the second American League Wild Card spot.

Mariners right-hander Taijuan Walker, in his first start after a month on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right foot, lasted just four innings while giving up seven hits and six runs. But relievers Cody Martin, Drew Storen and Tom Wilhelmsen combined for four scoreless frames before rookie Edwin Diaz came on to …

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