Jered Weaver will try to avoid his third consecutive loss on Sunday afternoon as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim attempt to complete a weekend three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners.
Weaver (7-7, 3.62 ERA) was pitching like the ace he has proven to be earlier this summer, as he won six of seven decisions between June 2-Aug. 9, but he has fallen on hard times of late with back-to-back losses.
After allowing a season-worst nine earned runs on Aug. 14, he struggled again in his latest outing, surrendering eight hits and four earned runs over six innings against the Indians on Aug. 19.
"Things just got away from me a little bit," Weaver said. "I was feeling good all night, and my location was good, but I just had one blowup inning and it ended up being the difference in the game."
Luckily for Weaver, he has pitched well against the Mariners in his career, going 12-8 with a 3.32 ERA in 26 starts versus the AL West rivals.
For Seattle, Aaron Harang will try to improve upon a dreadful season where he's gone 5-10 with a 5.49 ERA.
Harang has been one of the most inconsistent starters in the majors. He's had seven starts this season where he's allowed one earned run or fewer, but he's also allowed at least six earned runs on six different occasions. His previous start landed on the positive side, however, as he yielded just one earned run in seven innings against to Athletics on Aug. 19 in a no-decision.
The veteran right-hander has lost all three of his starts versus the Angels this season, sporting a 10.03 ERA while scattering 26 hits over 11 2/3 innings.
On Saturday night, the Angels captured the series win with a 5-1 victory.
Los Angeles got the ball rolling in the top of the first inning when Mike Trout belted a two-run home run, his 22nd of the season, and it never looked back from there.
Kole Calhoun chipped in an RBI triple in the eighth inning and Chris Nelson also drove home a run. J.B. Shuck collected three hits.
Jason Vargas (7-5) won his first game since returning from the disabled list in mid-August, allowing just one earned run over 6 1/3 innings.
Erasmo Ramirez (4-1) was handed his first loss of the season but pitched well nonetheless, yielding two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings while striking out five.
Nick Franklin knocked home the Mariners' only run with an RBI groundout in the seventh. Endy Chavez, Dustin Ackley and Brad Miller all had multi-hit games in the losing effort.
Seattle had won six of seven versus Los Angeles at home prior to this series.
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