Angels walk-off, remain 2 back of A’s

Torii Hunter's walk-off single sent the Los Angeles Angels soaring to a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The victory allowed the Angels to remain two games back of the Oakland Athletics for the second wild-card spot in the American League.

Seattle starter Felix Hernandez overcame a troublesome second inning in which he surrended two runs and loaded the bases to fire six innings and strike out nine batters. Meanwhile, Halos starter C.J. Wilson was tagged for three runs on five hits in 5⅓ innings.

Erick Aybar got the Angels on the scoreboard in the second frame by dumping a double into the left-field corner to plate Kendrys Morales and Alberto Callaspo, but the Mariners responded with two runs in the third inning. Justin Smoak, who has struggled mightily with the bat but has shown some pop, hit his 18th homer of the year in the fourth inning to put Seattle up 3-2. However, a Torii Hunter single in the seventh knotted the score as the Angels' relievers shut down the Mariners' offense.

Maicer Izturis' pinch-hit single to open the ninth put the go-ahead run on base, bringing up Peter Bourjos. Stephen Pryor uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Izturis to scamper to second, and Bourjos dropped down a successful sac bunt to move the winning run to third base. MVP candidate Mike Trout was given an intentional pass, setting up Hunter's game-winning heroics.

The Halos will conclude their series with the Mariners on Thursday, sending Dan Haren to the hill to face Hisashi Iwakuma.