Apple Valley Native Beats Angels

Updated 9:30 AM PST, Sat, May 30, 2009

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Jason Vargas has overcome quite a few hurdles since having hip surgery in March 2008.

The Seattle left-hander reached another bench mark in his comeback Friday night, beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 with 6 1-3 impressive innings. It was his first victory as a starter since April 13, 2006, with Florida.

"It's been a while, and it's a good feeling —- especially to do it relatively close to where I'm from," said Vargas, from Apple Valley.

He came to the Mariners last December in a three-way trade with the New York Mets and Cleveland Indians in which 12 players changed uniforms.

Vargas (2-0) sat out the entire 2008 season recovering from his surgery, but was confident he would re-establish himself as a big league starter at age 26. After a couple of relief outings, he was inserted into the rotation on May 12 because of an injury to Carlos Silva.

Trailing 4-2, the Angels got a run closer in the seventh on Kendry Morales' RBI single that chased Vargas. But Sean White ended the inning by striking out Howie Kendrick with the potential tying runs at second and third. Mark Lowe pitched a perfect eighth, and David Aardsma got three outs in the ninth for his seventh save.

Ichiro Suzuki was 2 for 5 with an RBI single and extended his hitting streak to 22 games —- the third-longest of his big league career and three shy of the franchise record he set in 2007.

Angels left fielder Juan Rivera was 3 for 4 with a home run in the fifth inning and robbed Russell Branyan of a home run in the eighth -- two pitches before Jose Lopez lofted his fourth home run just beyond Rivera's reach.

"I knew he was getting close," Lopez said. "When I saw Rivera jump at the wall, I said: 'Oh, my God, maybe he's got a chance to make it.' He was ready for my flyball, but he didn't get it. After that, I smiled when he missed the ball."

Lopez's fourth homer of the season chased John Lackey (1-1), who gave up five runs and 10 hits over 7 1-3 innings in his fourth start this season and first at home.

The right-hander, who missed the Angels' first 34 games because of a strained forearm, was 6-0 with a 1.91 ERA and a pair of complete-game shutouts in his previous six starts against the Mariners.

After retiring his first six batters on 20 pitches, Lackey threw 34 in the third inning as Seattle took a 3-0 lead. Suzuki had an RBI single, Franklin Gutierrez scored on Adrian Beltre's infield hit with the bases loaded, and Ken Griffey Jr. capped the rally with a sacrifice fly that Rivera caught in foul territory.

"My stuff tonight felt as good as it's been in a couple of years, honestly," Lackey said. "I had a really good two-seamer. I'm still not really sure how I gave up three in that one inning, but that's baseball. You've just got to keep making pitches and try to give your team a chance to win."