C.J. Wilson, Mark Trumbo lead Angels to 4-2 win over Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas — C. J. Wilson, working on no days’ rest, silenced a hostile Ballpark in Arlington crowd with 5 2/3 solid innings Saturday, and Mark Trumbo hit a two-run home run and sparked a two-run rally with a walk to lead the Angels to a 4-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.

The Angels also got 3 1/3 hitless innings from their bullpen, including 1 2/3 superb innings from right-hander Ernesto Frieri, to trim Texas’ American League West lead to seven games.

Wilson, the former Rangers ace who signed a five-year, $77.5-million contract with the Angels in December, became the first pitcher in franchise history to start consecutive games after a 1-hour, 56-minute rain delay in the first inning cut his Friday night start short after 22 pitches.

The left-hander did not get the win Saturday, but he subdued one of baseball’s most potent lineups, allowing two runs and five hits and surviving Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton’s major league-leading 18th home run of the season.

Trumbo gave the Angels a 2-0 lead in the fourth when he followed Torii Hunter’s two-out walk with a two-run home run off the facing of the second deck in left field, his fifth of the season, off Rangers starter Matt Harrison.

Texas scored once in the fifth and tied the score in the sixth on Hamilton’s homer, but the Angels rallied for two runs in the seventh to take a 4-2 lead.

Trumbo opened the inning with a walk and Howie Kendrick bunted for a single. Rangers Manager Ron Washington summoned right-hander Alexi Ogando, who had not allowed a hit to a right-handed batter or issued a walk this season.

Peter Bourjos beat out a bunt to third for a single to load the bases and snap one of Ogando’s streaks, and pinch-hitter Kendrys Morales hit a sacrifice fly to left to give the Angels a 3-2 lead.

Catcher John Hester, making his Angels debut after Friday’s promotion from triple-A Salt Lake, grounded an infield single to the shortstop hole to load the bases, and Mike Trout hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-2.

Ogando then walked two batters in the eighth before striking out Kendrick and Bourjos to end the inning.

Wilson walked Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus to open the first but quickly found his bearings, striking out Hamilton and getting Adrian Beltre to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

After Michael Young’s leadoff single in the second, Wilson retired 10 in a row before hitting Mike Napoli with an 0-and-2 pitch — a breaking ball that actually bounced in the dirt before hitting the Rangers catcher — with two out in the fifth.

Brandon Snyder singled to center, then Craig Gentry singled to right to score Napoli and trim the Angels’ lead to 2-1. Gentry stole second, but Wilson struck out Kinsler swinging at an off-speed pitch to end the inning.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Hamilton hammered his ninth homer in six games, a solo shot to right, to tie the score, 2-2. Only one other player since 1918 has hit 18 homers in his team’s first 34 games, Cy Williams of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1923.

Beltre reached on an infield single and, after Young’s fielder’s-choice grounder, Nelson Cruz walked. Manager Mike Scioscia summoned right-hander David Carpenter, who walked Napoli to load the bases, but Snyder flied out to left to end the inning.

C.J. Wilson, Mark Trumbo lead Angels to 4-2 win over Rangers