Torii Hunter homers twice as Angels beat Orioles, 8-3

Torii Hunter drove in five runs with two homers that extended his hitting streak to 17 games, Peter Bourjos and rookie Mike Trout also went deep, and the Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-3, on Friday night.

Dan Haren earned his seventh victory in his last eight decisions for the Angels, who beat Texas 2-1 on Thursday night to prevent a four-game sweep by the AL West-leading Rangers. Los Angeles remained six games out of first place.

Haren (13-6) surpassed his combined victory total of last year with the Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks. The three-time All-Star allowed three runs and nine hits over seven innings, struck out eight and walked none after getting staked to an early 5-0 lead.

The Orioles started chipping away in the third with a two-out RBI single by Matt Wieters that Trout trapped on a diving attempt in short right field. Adam Jones narrowed the gap to 5-3 with sacrifice flies in the fifth and seventh innings.

But Hunter responded in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer off reliever Willie Eyre, giving him 17 for the season and capping his 16th career multihomer game.

Scott Downs, who hasn’t given up a run at Angel Stadium all season, escaped his own bases-loaded jam in the eighth by striking out Josh Bell and retiring J.J. Hardy on a flyball. Hardy has gone six games and 28 at-bats without driving in a run -- after an eight-game RBI streak in which he had 13 and homered five times.

Trout, who was recalled from Double-A Arkansas on Friday, ended the scoring with a solo homer in the eighth off former Angels reliever Kevin Gregg. The right-hander is with his fourth team in five seasons since the Angels traded him to the Florida Marlins in December 2006.

Jo-Jo Reyes (1-2) gave up five runs, eight hits and three walks over five innings and struck out six in his third start for Baltimore. The left-hander is 6-6 with a 6.01 ERA in 13 starts after ending his major league record-tying winless streak of 28 starts on May 30 with Toronto. In his other outing against the Angels this season, Reyes lost a 3-1 decision to Jered Weaver on April 10 at the Big A.

Reyes found himself behind 4-0 after just 12 pitches and four batters. Howie Kendrick’s single drove in Bourjos, who led off with a double, and Hunter sent the next pitch into the lower seats in the left field corner. By the time the inning ended, Reyes had thrown 34 of his 97 pitches. Bourjos made it 5-0 in the second with his sixth home run.

Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis threw out Hunter in the fifth when he tried to score from second on a two-out single by Erick Aybar. The Orioles have 28 outfield assists, second in the AL to Kansas City’s 43.

Haren escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second by striking out Nolan Reimold and retiring Bell on a grounder to first base. Reimold has no RBIs in 38 career at-bats against the Angels -- the only AL club he has not driven in a run against.

-- Associated Press