ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Josh Hamilton hit a tying two-run homer in Los Angeles' three-run ninth inning, and the Angels rallied for a 6-5 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.
Mark Trumbo belted his 19th homer and Mike Trout had two RBI for Los Angeles, which took two of three in the series. Scott Downs (2-2) got three outs for the victory.
St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright, the NL pitcher of the month for June, took a 5-3 lead into the ninth before giving up a leadoff single by Albert Pujols, who was 1-for-11 in his first series against his former team.
Manager Mike Matheny then brought in Edward Mujica, and Hamilton drove the right-hander's second pitch into the center field trees for his 11th homer. Howie Kendrick and Mark Trumbo followed with singles, and Mujica (0-1) retired his next two batters before Erick Aybar drove in the winning run with an opposite-field single to left.
Aybar had three hits and scored a run for Los Angeles.
Angels starter Joe Blanton gave up five runs, four earned, and nine hits in 52â„3 innings. The right-hander, who signed a $15-million, two-year contract with Los Angeles over the winter, is 0-4 with a 5.17 ERA in nine starts this season at Anaheim Stadium.
Blanton averaged 13 pitches through the first three innings while retiring nine of his first 10 batters. But just three batters into the fourth, the Cardinals pulled ahead 3-2 on a single by Carlos Beltran, a walk to Matt Holliday and Allen Craig's homer. Craig leads the majors with a .469 average with runners in scoring position.
It was the seventh straight start in which Blanton gave up a home run.
The Angels tied it in the bottom of the fourth on a drive to center from Trumbo. But the Cardinals got the run back in the fifth on Matt Carpenter's sacrifice fly, and then made it 5-3 in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Daniel Descalso that chased Blanton, who has given up a major league-worst 135 hits.
The Angels opened the scoring in the third on a two-out, two-run single by Trout, after Wainwright gave up singles to Alberto Callaspo and Aybar, and J.B. Shuck advanced them with a sacrifice bunt.
Notes: Hamilton, the only player in the Angels' starting lineup who had faced Wainwright previously, was 0-for-2 against him after coming in 3-for-7. ... St. Louis' Jon Jay played his 227th consecutive game in center field without an error, breaking Curt Flood's franchise record for any outfield position. Matheny holds the major-league record for errorless games by a catcher with 252. ... Holliday was back in the Cardinals' lineup as the designated hitter, going 0- for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk after missing two games because of a pinched nerve in his neck. ... Trout leads the Angels with 55 RBI, just two fewer than he had through his first 84 games last season, when he finished with 83 and was named AL rookie of the year after spending the first month of the season at Triple-A. ... RHP Lance Lynn's next start for the Cardinals will be Sunday at home against the Miami Marlins. He has two chances left to become the sixth pitcher in Cardinals history to post at least 11 wins before the All-Star break in consecutive seasons, and the first since Joaquin Andujar (1984-85). The others were Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Mort Cooper and Gerry Staley.