TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Mike Trout and Albert Pujols each had RBI doubles for the Los Angeles Angels, but the Robinson Cano continued his torrid spring training in the Seattle Mariners’ 10-6 win Tuesday.
Los Angeles starter C .J. Wilson allowed four hits and one unearned run with four strikeouts over five innings. It was his third start.
“The key for me is if I can hit my spots, I’ll be OK,” Wilson said.
Wilson, 17-7 with a 3.39 ERA in 2013, was coming off a start in which he pitched four scoreless innings against the Dodgers.
Scott Baker, who had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in 2012 and is trying to make the Seattle rotation, had his toughest outing in three spring starts. He allowed five runs - two earned - on five hits over three innings.
Baker hit Pujols, David Freese and Howie Kendrick in succession with two outs in the first but got Hank Conger to fly out to deep right-center.
Cano was 1 for 2 and is hitting .588 for his new team. He also walked. Cano fought off a two-strike pitch from Wilson in the first and hit a soft line single to left.
Matt Long, a candidate to make the Angels as a reserve outfielder, had three hits in four trips to the plate.
STARTING TIME
Baker went without a decision in three starts for the Chicago Cubs in 2013. He went 38-22 with Minnesota from 2008-2010. He reached 200 innings pitched in 2009 and hit only four batters that season. His high for hit batsman was six.
On Tuesday, he hit three consecutive hitters in the first inning.
“I was having trouble getting on top of the ball,” Baker said. “These guys are good hitters. If you don’t have a good feel for your secondary pitches - you just can’t throw them fastballs. I felt I was getting ahead of guys and I didn’t feel I was putting them away like I should have been able to.”
Mariners: Projected starters Hisashi Iwakuma (sprained finger tendon) and Taijuan Walker (shoulder stiffness) are dealing with injuries and neither are expected to be ready for the regular-season opener. Baker is one of several candidates to fill in.
Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon would not speculate on his rotation.
“I can’t tell you about my thoughts on the rotation,” McClendon said. “We’ll keep throwing them out there and see what happens.”
On Baker: “He just couldn’t find the slot on his breaking ball. All in all it was a fair outing, not a great outing.”
REPLAY
A call on a force play at second base was overturned in eighth inning by replay. Angels manager Mike Scioscia hinted that the cameras could change the way calls have been made on the catch/transfer play when a middle infielder pivots at second base.
On the play, Angels second baseman Andrew Romine took Tommy Fields’ flip on a force play and runner Tyler Smith was called out. McClendon appealed the play and it was overturned in within 2 minutes, 20 seconds.
Scioscia said he discussed the play with umpire Dale Scott and determined that the ball would have to be transferred into the bare hand from now on to satisfy the replay umpire enough to call it a transfer.
“It’s good for us to get and understanding of how it works,” Scioscia said. “It’s an education.”
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