Felix Hernandez ended an eight-game losing streak, and the Seattle Mariners continued their best start since 1995 with a 6-3 win against the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.

The game was the opener of a two-game series.

Hernandez (1-0), the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner who will turn 33 on April 8, went 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) and seven hits. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter.

In his previous 11 appearances (10 starts) since his last victory, Hernandez had gone 0-8 with a 6.34 ERA.

Seattle committed four errors through the first four innings but still maintained a 4-3 lead when Hernandez departed.

Jay Bruce hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to give Seattle some insurance en route to its sixth win in the first seven games.

Chris Stratton, whom the Angels acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants last week, started and got off to a rocky start, allowing four runs in the first inning. The right-hander settled in and didn't allow another run before exiting after 4 1/3 innings, having yielded seven hits with one strikeout and two walks.

Mallex Smith started the first-inning rally by reaching on an infield single and then taking second on a wild pitch. Mitch Haniger walked, and Domingo Santana followed with a single to left, scoring Smith for a 1-0 lead.

After retiring the next two batters, Stratton gave up an RBI single to Omar Narvaez, followed by a two-run double by Tim Beckham for the 4-0 lead.

The Angels got a run back in the second. Albert Pujols led off with a single and took third on an error. Brian Goodwin knocked in Pujols with an infield single to make it 4-1.

Pujols led off the fourth with a double to deep center. He then tested Smith's arm in center on Jonathan Lucroy's single and beat the throw to make it 4-2. Two throwing errors by Narvaez helped bring Lucroy home and cut the deficit to 4-3.

--Field Level Media