Angels Wouldn’t Trade This Victory

The Angels may not have found a deal to their liking before the non-waiver trade deadline, but they remain open to acquiring more games against the dreadful Seattle Mariners.

Jose Guillen’s two-run homer in the 11th inning Saturday afternoon at Angel Stadium propelled the Angels to a 9-8 victory that came close to being a crushing defeat before another collapse by the Mariner bullpen.

Ichiro Suzuki, who had homered off Angel closer Troy Percival in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, put the Mariners ahead, 8-7, in the top of the 11th, when he singled and eventually scored on Bret Boone’s single to right-center.

But after Curtis Pride singled to open the bottom of the inning, Guillen crushed Seattle closer Eddie Guardado’s 0-and-1 pitch into the Angel bullpen beyond the left-field wall, sending those who remained from a sellout crowd of 43,576 into a frenzy.

Guillen capped the Angels’ first walk-off homer of the season by sliding into home plate, where he was mobbed by jubilant teammates.

“That’s going to be a huge pickup for us,” Percival said. “There’s a pretty good chance we’re not going to come out real flat tomorrow because that’s a big win.”

Guillen drove in four runs and finished with a career-high five hits for the Angels, who overcame a five-run deficit for the second time in three days and trail first-place Oakland by 2 1/2 games in the American League West.

“On a day when we needed a lot of runs, Jose was right in the middle of everything,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said.

The Angels overcame deficits of 5-0, 6-3 and 8-7 after starter Kelvim Escobar wobbled, giving up nine hits and six runs in six innings. Raul Ibanez hit a three-run homer during a five-run third inning in which the Mariners batted around.

But the Angels steadily chipped away at the deficit, Guillen’s run-scoring single to right in the seventh tying the score, 6-6, before David Eckstein put the Angels ahead, 7-6, in the eighth when he flared an RBI single to center.

Percival’s attempt to close out the victory in the ninth was short-lived; Suzuki, leading off, belted a first-pitch fastball into the right-field stands.

“I was trying to go down and away but didn’t get it there,” Percival said.

The Angels put themselves in position to win in the 10th when they loaded the bases with one out, but Chone Figgins and Garret Anderson struck out.

Reliever Brendan Donnelly then gave up Boone’s run-scoring single before Guillen came through to help the Angels improve to 9-3 against the last-place Mariners and 3-6 in extra innings.

“If that game goes the other way and we lose, it’s not a normal loss,” said Donnelly (3-2).

The Angels can only hope it wasn’t a Pyrrhic victory, considering Vladimir Guerrero, Bengie Molina and Eckstein left with injuries, though none appeared serious. Guerrero, who hit his 23rd homer, left the game in the fifth after Seattle third baseman Jolbert Cabrera’s throw bounced off Guerrero’s left shoulder, leaving a bruise.

Molina left in the seventh after suffering a bruise on the tip of his right index finger on a bounced pitch from reliever Kevin Gregg. Eckstein initially stayed in the game after taking a pitch off his left kneecap in the 10th but was replaced by Alfredo Amezaga to start the 11th.

Even though the Angels were unable to bolster their roster with a last-minute trade, General Manager Bill Stoneman said he remained confident in a team that has produced sporadically and failed to follow through on the promise of a nine-game winning streak in early May.

The Angels’ latest victory gave them a modest two-game winning streak.

“We’re still a pretty well-rounded team and a talented team that just hasn’t put a streak together yet,” Stoneman said.

“Once we do that, we’ll be fine.”

While Stoneman said there was not “one specific glaring weakness” on the roster, he acknowledged that he would continue to seek upgrades.

“The fact that the deadline for non-waiver trading has come and gone doesn’t mean that there won’t be trading going on and doesn’t mean we won’t be involved in discussions as we go forward,” Stoneman said.