SEATTLE _ Nelson Cruz hit two baseballs really far Monday night.
Mike Trout hit two baseballs really far, as well, one a whopping 459 feet to a part of the batter's eye in center field that has been rarely visited.
The difference was that Cruz got just a little bit more help from his friends than did Trout, allowing the Seattle Mariners to beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 in front of 20,116 spectators at CenturyLink Field and get what is considered a critical stretch of Seattle's season off to a positive start.
The game is the first of 13 in a row for the Mariners against teams with winning records, representing a chance for Seattle to counter what is one of the biggest arguments against the team's legitimacy.
Seattle has played just five games against teams with winning records since May 6, having gone 22-10 in those contests, accounting for a healthy chunk of the 17 games above .500 Seattle carried into Monday night.
There's a long way to go in this stretch _ notably, 10 in a row against the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees after the Angels leave town.
But Monday night what mostly went long were baseballs _ the teams hit a combined six to account for every run.
That included two by Cruz in his first two times at-bat _ giving him four in his past eight at-bats _ as well as a two-run shot by Ryon Healy.
Those homers countered what was an ominous start as Trout and then Albert Pujols homered off Mariner starter Wade LeBlanc in the top of the first.
But Cruz' two-run homer in the bottom of the first tied the game and Cruz and Healy then put the Mariners ahead for good in the fourth.
When it was over, Seattle had won for the ninth time in its past 11 games and 13th in its past 17 to improve to 42-24 and a season-high 18 games over .500.
All of Seattle's homers and runs came off Angels starter Andrew Heaney, who had allowed just four home runs in 60 2/3 innings before Monday night.
The Mariners hit three off him in three-plus, with Heaney pulled after allowing two in the fourth as well as two hits and a walk in that inning, leaving with Seattle ahead 5-2.
Seattle was shut down the rest of the game.
But LeBlanc and four Seattle relievers got the outs they needed to make the lead stick.
LeBlanc's last pitch was his most important as he struck out Justin Upton on an 84-mph cutter to end the fifth with the bases loaded.
A walk and a double put runners on second and third with one out. With two outs and first base open, the Mariners intentionally walked Trout to load the bases.
On the full-count pitch, LeBlanc relied on his trusty cutter, with an 84 mph sinking below Upton's swinging bat.
LeBlanc unleashed a hearty yell as he left the mound having thrown a season-high 92 pitches.
Reliever Ryan Cook allowed Trout's mammoth drive over center field to lead off the eighth, and an error and a single then made it momentarily nervous time. But Cook then struck out former Mariner Jabari Blash to end the inning.
Edwin Diaz pitched the ninth to pick up his 24th save of the year while LeBlanc improved to 2-0.
Cruz came into the game riding his hottest stretch of the season, hitting .362 in his past 13 games after his average had dipped to .219 on May 27, a turnabout that manager Scott Servais before the game attributed in large part to getting healthy.
That run included homers in each of the last two games of Seattle's visit over the weekend to Tampa Bay.
He picked up where he left off there, homering in the first to tie the game and then leading off the fourth to put Seattle ahead for good.
It was his first multihomer game of the season and 24th of his continually storied career.
Healy's two-run shot two batters later made it 5-2.
