MARINERS 12, ANGELS 5
at Tempe, Ariz.
Sunday, March 21

Angels at the plate: Torii Hunter delivered a pair of RBI singles. Maicer Izturis had a double and single in three at-bats leading off. DH Hideki Matsui singled and walked, driving in a run with a groundout. Kendry Morales had two RBIs on a single and groundout.

Mariners at the plate: Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchman greeted their former teammates with three hits each. Figgins drilled an RBI triple and singled, scoring both times on singles by Kotchman. Figgins also had a steal. Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single, scoring on Figgins' triple, and banged a two-run triple to center in a six-run seventh. Eric Byrnes launched a three-run homer to left against Jered Weaver in the fourth, his sixth extra-base hit and first homer of the spring. Adam Moore doubled and singled.

Angels on the mound: Weaver struggled with the top of the Mariners' order and served a three-run homer to Byrnes. He departed having yielded six runs (five earned) on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out three while walking none. Fernando Rodney pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, striking out Milton Bradley and retiring Mike Sweeney.

Mariners on the mound: Getting the start with Cliff Lee sidelined by a strained abdomen, Luke French faced the minimum through three innings with a pair of double plays erasing a walk and single. The Angels scored twice in the fourth on a double and three singles before French got an inning-ending double play. Mark Lowe pitched a perfect fifth, striking out two.

Worth noting: In the seventh inning, Tim McClelland was the lone umpire, calling balls and strikes from behind the mound. Dale Scott was forced to depart after getting struck by a pitch in the fifth. Alfonso Marques, the third umpire in the initial crew, was changing gear at the time and went behind the plate in the eighth. Bobby Abreu threw out Kotchman making his turn at first with a bullet from right field in the third inning. Figgins made a deft scoop of third baseman Jose Lopez's bounced throw to second to turn a double play on Juan Rivera. Lopez and Figgins turned another DP an inning later, and Figgins started a third double play in the fourth. Sweeney was forced to leave after getting hit with a pitch on the left hand in the seventh.

Cactus League records: Angels 4-11-2; Mariners 7-10-1

What's next: The Angels travel to Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., on Monday for a meeting with their geographical rivals, the Dodgers, at 1:05 p.m. PT. Joe Saunders, in his third Cactus League start, will engage Clayton Kershaw in a duel of southpaws. The Angels were 36-17 against lefties last season, and few hitters in the game punished them the way Juan Rivera did. The left fielder, who is in the midst of a strong spring, batted .333 with 12 homers and 26 RBIs in 141 at-bats, slugging .654 against lefties in 2009.

The Mariners head over to Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Monday for a 1:05 p.m. PT game against the Oakland A's. Starter Ian Snell will try to build on his last start, a four-inning effort against Texas on Wednesday in which he gave up three runs on six hits while striking out five. Snell is scheduled to be followed by righties Chad Cordero and David Pauley. The A's will counter with lefty Brett Anderson and righty Justin Duchscherer.