The Seattle Mariners put up a good fight on Tuesday night but eventually dropped their series opener against the Los Angeles Angels by a final score of 5-4.
The Angels scored twice in the bottom of the first inning, thanks to an RBI single from Albert Pujols and a sacrifice fly from Alberto Callaspo.
Justin Smoak finally got the Mariners on the board in the top of the fourth, as a fly ball to right field was reviewed anns stood up as a home run, cutting the Angels lead in half.
The Angels got some breathing room in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Torii Hunter hit a home run that made it 4-1 Los Angeles. Erick Aybar tacked on another home run in the sixth that made it 5-1.
Although Zack Greinke left the game in just the fifth inning due to a high pitch count, he struck out 13 Mariners batters and allowed just two walks. Although Greinke gave up seven hits, he held Seattle to one run on the Smoak home run.
The Mariners finally had a big inning in the top of the seventh. Franklin Gutierrez hit an RBI double and Smoak hit a two-out, two-run homer to left. Smoak became just the fourth Mariner ever to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game. The last Mariner to accomplish the feat was David Segui, way back in 1998.
The Mariners were unable to bring any more runs home as Seattle batters struck out a total of 19 times in the game.