Encarnación, Murphy hit 2 HRs each, Mariners blast Halos 9-3

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Edwin Encarnación hit two homers, including the 400th of his career, and Tom Murphy added two more in the Seattle Mariners‘ 9-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

Encarnación and Daniel Vogelbach hit back-to-back homers in the sixth, and Encarnación added a solo shot in the seventh for his 35th career multihomer game and his second against the Angels this month. The veteran slugger even pushed into the AL lead with his 20th homer of the season.

Murphy hit an early two-run homer and an eighth-inning solo shot for the last-place Mariners, who took two of three from Los Angeles for their first series win since mid-May. Kyle Seager added Seattle’s sixth homer of the day in the ninth.

Tommy La Stella hit his 15th homer for the Angels, who have lost five of seven.

Brad Ausmus also was ejected for the first time in his tenure as the Angels’ manager, apparently for arguing about the strike zone of home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak after the third inning.

After opener Austin Adams struck out Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the first inning, Wade LeBlanc (3-2) pitched six innings of six-hit ball with eight strikeouts for his first victory since April 7.

Jose Suarez (1-1) yielded four hits and two runs over 4 2/3 innings in his second big league start for the Angels. The lefty beat Seattle last weekend in his major league debut, but didn’t get 13 runs of support this time.

After the Mariners’ six-homer outburst, Los Angeles’ pitching staff has yielded 111 homers in 66 games this season. That’s more homers allowed than every team in the majors except Baltimore and Seattle.

Murphy extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine games with his second-inning homer, but La Stella hit a two-out homer to center in the third. The 30-year-old infielder had 10 career homers before he joined the Halos this season and discovered a remarkable power stroke.

After Encarnación led off the sixth with a homer, Vogelbach followed with his 16th to chase struggling Angels reliever Cody Allen. Seattle got its seventh back-to-back homers of the season.

Wilfredo Tovar doubled in the seventh inning for his first big league hit since 2014. The former Mets prospect, filling in for injured Andrelton Simmons at shortstop, was called up by the Angels for this series after 12 pro seasons with four teams.

Murphy homered off Nick Tropeano in the eighth for his second career multi-homer game, his first since 2016 with Colorado.

Ohtani went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts one day after homering off Seattle’s Yusei Kikuchi in their first big league meeting.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: Dee Gordon is expected to join the club in Minnesota on Tuesday. He is coming back from a bone bruise on his right wrist.

Angels: Trevor Cahill officially went on the injured list with right elbow soreness, although he’s only expected to miss one start. Matt Harvey, the Halos’ other big free-agent pitcher signing, got hit hard in a rehab start for Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday in his comeback from a back strain.

UP NEXT

Mariners: After a day off, Mike Leake (5-6, 4.30 ERA) takes the mound in Minnesota for a series opener against the Twins, who counter with Martin Perez (7-2, 3.72).

Angels: Rookie Griffin Canning (2-2, 3.52 ERA) makes his eighth career start in the Freeway Series opener Monday night in Anaheim. The Halos must face dominant lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu (9-1, 1.35 ERA) for the Dodgers.