OF Michael Saunders, who was in the lineup Friday but pulled after one at-bat because of a flare-up of his testy groin injury, isn’t likely to play again until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. “I think we’ll give him a couple of days and see how he feels,” manager Eric Wedge said. “It’s about where it’s been.”
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma is rapidly becoming a secret weapon for the Mariners. He threw 7 1/3 innings of five-hit scoreless ball in beating the Angels on Sunday. Iwakuma has allowed just one earned run in his last four starts, striking out 22. And in his last six starts he’s 4-1 with a 1.66 ERA.
OF Carlos Peguero was recalled Saturday from Triple-A Tacoma, where he had hit 21 homers and driven in 54 runs when not serving as a backup in Seattle. On the Mariner roster in July, he got 41 at-bats and turned in just a .146 average. On Sunday he hit one of the two homers off Angels RHP Jered Weaver that gave the Mariners’ a 2-1 win.
RHP Erasmo Ramirez was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, where he had been starting (6-3, 3.72 ERA) for the Rainiers. And while he was a starter in Seattle earlier in the season, he’ll have to be content to be in the bullpen for the time being unless manager Eric Wedge and pitching coach Carl Willis want to make a move with RHP Kevin Millwood, who hasn’t won in the second half of the season. Ramirez was 0-2 with a 3.82 ERA in the Seattle rotation before being sidelined by an elbow strain.
CF Franklin Gutierrez has not made an error in his last 296 games (288 starts through Sunday) dating to Aug. 21, 2009. He has 831 consecutive errorless chances. The major-league record is 938 by Darren Lewis.
RHP Felix Hernandez had his streak of starts without a loss snapped Saturday at 14 (9-0, 1.40 ERA) when he gave up five runs (four earned) in a 5-2 loss to the Angels. He owns the AL ERA lead at 2.51, just ahead of Tampa Bay’s LHP David Price (2.53). As good as he has been this season, Hernandez hasn’t solved the Angels, against whom he has half of his losses and a 5.82 ERA.
C Jesus Montero has been able to feast on Angels RHP Jered Weaver when most other hitters in the big leagues haven’t solved the ace. In nine at-bats, Montero has five hits, including four homers. One of those Sunday helped the Mariners score a 2-1 win in the series finale.
