SEATTLE _ The Los Angeles Angels salvaged a series and gained a game in their playoff hunt by beating Seattle 5-3 on Sunday at Safeco Field because of a big eighth-inning double by recent acquisition Justin Upton.
Upton also made his third significant defensive mistake in nine games as an Angel, but his late hit overshadowed it.
In Sunday's first inning, Mike Trout fell behind 0 and 2, then fouled a ball off, watched three balls pass him by and pounced a cutter. He clubbed it 401 feet for a homer to center. It was his seventh extra-base hit during 80 plate appearances in which pitchers have cornered him in an 0-and-2 count. His on-base-plus-slugging percentage in such situations is right around the league average in all situations.
Two batters later, Albert Pujols singled into center field and then stole second when the Mariners were not attentive. That did not lead to any runs, and neither did C.J. Cron's two-out single in the second inning. The Angels' next hit did not come until the fourth, when Andrelton Simmons skied a fly ball into left and lucked into a double when the sun overwhelmed Seattle left fielder Ben Gamel.
Before that, the Angels similarly lost a battle with the sun. With a man on third and two outs in the second inning, Gamel shot a fly ball to the warning track in left-center field. Upton, it appeared, called for it, but he stood a few feet away from where the ball landed, as did Trout. That allowed one run to score immediately, and another soon afterward.
Those were all the Mariners managed against Angels starter Parker Bridwell, who struck out only two, surrendered seven hits in his six innings and stranded runners at a prodigious rate. He has repeatedly done that in his surprise rookie season.
The score stayed 2-1 until the seventh inning, when Luis Valbuena golfed a two-out homer to tie the score. Ben Revere, pinch-hitting, began the eighth with a single to center, and Brandon Phillips bunted him over.
After the Mariners intentionally walked Trout, Upton drilled reliever Nick Vincent's next pitch, a cutter down the middle, for a two-run double. He took third base on a Pujols' flyout and came home on a wild pitch from left-hander Marc Rzepczynski.
In a month where he has set a new American League record for pitchers used, Angels manager Mike Scioscia relied upon a much more traditional formula on Sunday. Right-handers Cam Bedrosian, Blake Parker and Yusmeiro Petit handled an inning each, with a Jean Segura solo shot the extent of the damage.
The Angels (73-70) avoided a series sweep in Seattle and rose to within one game of Minnesota for the American League's second wild-card spot.
