ANAHEIM, Calif. - Ervin Santana allowed three hits over eight innings and retired 20 of his first 21 batters, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.

AP

Seattle Mariners' Adrian Beltre, right, is congratulated by teammate Richie Sexson after hitting a home run against the Los Angeles Angels in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, April 19, 2008.

Santana (3-0) struck out eight and walked none, improving his all-time home record to 26-9. The only baserunner the right-hander allowed over the first 6 2-3 innings was Greg Norton, who doubled off the center field wall with one out in the first and was stranded at third when Brad Wilkerson took a called third strike.

Adrian Beltre homered with two out in the seventh, snapping a string of 16 consecutive Seattle outs. Wilkerson's bloop single in the eighth was the only other hit off Santana, who struck out his last two batters.

Scot Shields pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season and 17th of his career, allowing one hit. Regular closer Francisco Rodriguez got the night off after pitching in five of the previous six games.

Jarrod Washburn (1-3) allowed four runs, 10 hits and no walks over six innings. The left-hander, who spent eight seasons with the Angels and helped them win the World Series in 2002, is 4-3 with a 4.47 ERA in eight starts against them since signing a four-year contract with Seattle in December 2005.

The game was played in a crisp 2 hours, 11 minutes. Ten of the Mariners' first 19 games have lasted less than 2 1/2 hours, including the last four.

Torii Hunter, who tied an Angels record with three doubles in Friday night's 5-4 victory, hit another one his first time up and scored the game's first run on Jeff Mathis' sacrifice fly.

The Angels increased the margin to 4-0 the fourth when Erick Aybar hit a two-run single, continued to second on the throw home by right fielder Wilkerson and scored on a single by Chone Figgins. Both hits came with two out.