ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Mike Trout crushed his ninth homer of the season Saturday night, his 433-foot blast bouncing near the rock pile at Angel Stadium and giving his team a first-inning lead over the rival Dodgers and young ace Walker Buehler.
Four innings later, he gave the Angels another lead on a hard-hit fielder's choice.
But it wasn't enough.
Mookie Betts, who beat out Trout for the American League MVP two years ago, crushed a homer to left-center field off Angels reliever Felix Pena. The solo shot allowed the Dodgers to tie the Angels in the seventh inning. The Dodgers won it in the 10th when Chris Taylor started the inning at second base and then stole third. He scored the go-ahead run on Max Muncy's sacrifice fly. Kenley Jansen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Trout to end a 6-5 victory.
The Angels had held on to a 5-4 lead for barely an inning when Betts punished Pena's middle-of-the-zone fastball. They had to overcome left-handed starter Andrew Heaney's early stumbles.
Heaney labored through three innings, needing 69 pitches to face 17 batters in that span. He issued three walks and gave up five hits.
Of the five hits in the first three innings, two belonged to Cody Bellinger. The haze of his early-season slump appeared to have lifted. He smacked a single into center to lead off the second inning, stole second base and came around to score on Betts' two-run single. Betts' hit tied the game 2-2.
Bellinger then started a two-out rally in the third, scorching a pitch to right field. The ball left Bellinger's bat at 107.5 mph. Taylor followed with a double up the middle.
That's when Muncy, who was five for 44 with 15 strikeouts and five walks in his previous 12 games, flipped a switch of his own. He sliced a ground-ball into left field, deep enough for Bellinger and Taylor to race home and give the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.
The Dodgers have been able to begin the season with one of the National League's best records despite slow starts from Bellinger, Muncy and Joc Pederson. Their lineup is productive enough. They entered Saturday's game batting a collective .240 _ a tick above the league average of .239 _ with a .772 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
The Angels, meanwhile, ranked 23rd in average (.233) and 18th in OPS (.739).
Anthony Rendon's ground-rule double in the bottom of the third inning brought home Tommy La Stella and cut the Dodgers' deficit to 4-3.
It also seemed to pacify Heaney, who retired eight of the final nine batters he faced. He departed after 5 2/3 innings, having given up five hits, four walks and four runs. He also struck out six.
Saturday's outing represented a regression for Buehler. The 26-year-old right-hander began the season behind the Dodgers' other starting pitchers and needed two starts to find his footing. His third performance was his best, a promising step forward. He allowed two runs in a season-long 5 2/3 innings against the San Francisco Giants.
He couldn't escape the fifth inning Saturday. He exited with two outs and Trout at second base in the fifth. He allowed four runs on five hits across the 5 2/3 frames. He had four walks, six strikeouts, and a frustrating night.
Three observations on the Angels
_David Fletcher stretched his hitting streak to 14 games, a career high. The utility player has recorded a hit in 19 of the Angels' 21 games.
_Reliever Hansel Robles, who was demoted from the closer role after giving up nine earned runs in 32/3 innings to start the season, recorded his fifth consecutive scoreless outing. He hasn't given up a run since the Angels decided to go with a closer committee.
_In his second at-bat against the team that almost traded for him, Luis Rengifo softly swatted a ball into shallow center field for a base hit. The single started a two-run rally. It was also Rengifo's fifth hit of the season.
