Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Efren Navarro grounded the first pitch he saw into center field, plating Mike Trout in the bottom of the 16th inning and lifting the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners in a five-plus hour marathon from Angel Stadium.
Trout doubled with one out for his third hit of the contest to put himself in scoring position against Dominic Leone (2-2), who took the mound in the 16th for his first inning of relief. After Albert Pujols grounded back to Leone for the second out, Josh Hamilton was walked intentionally for the pinch-hitter Navarro, whose fifth RBI of the season ended the opener of this three-game series between AL West rivals.
David Freese and Hank Conger also drove in runs for the surging Angels, winners in six straight overall and 19 of their last 21 at home.
"We kept grinding it out. That's just a tough grind-out game against a really good pitching staff," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Hector Santiago (2-7) picked up his second win of the season, tossing 2 2/3 innings out of the bullpen for the Halos.
More relief help is on the way. During the game, the Angels acquired All-Star closer Huston Street in a six-player trade with the San Diego Padres. The Angels dealt infielders Taylor Lindsey and Jose Rondon and right-handed pitchers R.J. Alvarez and Elliot Morris to San Diego in exchange for Street and fellow righty Trevor Gott.
Robinson Cano reached base five times for Seattle, finishing with four singles and a walk. The Mariners outhit the Angels, 15-12.
"Our bullpen did a nice job," said Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon. "We had opportunities and so did they. That's how it goes. It was a tough loss tonight but we'll survive."
Both starters pitched well despite not factoring in the final decision. Hisashi Iwakuma tossed his fourth consecutive game without allowing a walk for Seattle, yielding two runs on six hits in seven innings. Jered Weaver struck out eight Mariners and was also charged with two runs in six-plus innings.
Los Angeles broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning, plating a pair of runs. Howie Kendrick led off with a single and scored on Freese's double to the wall in right. Cano's relay home beat Kendrick, but his slide jarred the ball loose from catcher Mike Zunino.
Freese moved to third on Zunino's error and scored two batters later, when Conger chopped a single into right-center.
Dustin Ackley started the top of the seventh with a double and scored on Brad Miller's single, cutting the margin in half and ending Weaver's outing. Zunino grounded out after reliever Mike Morin entered, moving Miller to second, and Endy Chavez knotted the score with a single to center.
Erick Aybar led off the home ninth with a single to left, but exited the game with a sore right groin and was replaced by John McDonald. Danny Farquhar then took over on the mound for Charlie Furbush and stranded McDonald to force extras.
Seattle nearly broke through in the top of the 11th inning. Justin Smoak was on second base following a single and sac bunt for Miller, but his sharp liner back up the middle was snagged by pitcher Fernando Salas. Smoak was easily doubled off at second to end the inning.
The Mariners threatened again in the 13th, putting runners on the corners with two away, but Cory Rasmus dropped a curveball in to Miller with a 3-2 count to strike him out looking.
Game Notes
Iwakuma has 28 strikeouts without a walk in July ... Weaver has just two losses in his last 10 starts at home ... 17 total pitchers were used ... Cano has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games. He has nine multi-hit games during that stretch ... Both teams finished 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position ... The Mariners are 6-4 against the Angels this season.
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