ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Rally Monkey still looms large at Edison International Field.
The Anaheim Angels rallied in the ninth inning against Kazuhiro Sasaki and pulled out a 7-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Trailing by five runs, Anaheim chipped away in the fourth and fifth innings to cut the deficit to 6-4. Unbeaten in nine games when leading after eight innings, the Mariners went to their closer in the ninth but fell victim to the most famous late-inning stunt in baseball.
With the crowd swinging their stuffed monkeys in the air, the Angels produced four consecutive singles off Sasaki (1-1) to tie it. Troy Glaus came to the plate with runners at second and third and hit a grounder that was booted by third baseman Mark McLemore, allowing Eric Owens to trot home with the winning run.
"I missed it, it was a ball I should have caught," McLemore said. "I thought I had a play at the plate, but I've got to catch it first."
"They've had their share of games like this last year," Seattle manager Bob Melvin added. "If McLemore catches the ball clean, the guy at the plate is out. Until you get the last out, they feel like they have a chance."
It was the third blown save in six chances for Sasaki, who yielded three runs and four hits while retiring just one batter.
"It was just like you saw it," Sasaki said through an interpreter. "The pitch that was hit was a split that didn't do anything. On (David) Eckstein, I was trying to work out and away. I'll have to regroup and mentally get tougher."
Rookie Francisco Rodriguez (2-1) reaped the benefits, walking one in two scoreless innings for the win.
After failing to nail down the save against Oakland on Thursday, Sasaki came on in the ninth and allowed a leadoff single to Chone Figgins, who stole second three pitches later. Eckstein followed with a run-scoring single and moved to third on Owens' base hit.
With the momentum obviously on Anaheim's side, Salmon dunked Sasaki's next offering over the head of first baseman John Olerud and just inside the right field line, scoring Eckstein and tying it at 6-6.
"It's better to be lucky than good," Salmon said. "It was a splitter up. I waited too long and it broke down and in against me."
Garret Anderson flied to right, but after a double steal put runners on second and third, McLemore booted Glaus' grounder to complete the comeback.
"We put some good at-bats together, stole some bags," Glaus said. "I was trying to put the ball in play, hope something good happened and, tonight, it did."
"Unbelievably big win for us," Salmon said. "We haven't been playing well lately. This is the character of the club we saw last year."
Anaheim grabbed an early lead on Salmon's RBI single in the bottom of the first inning, but the Mariners moved in front with three runs in the second.
With one out, John Mabry walked and scored on Ben Davis' double off Angels starter Kevin Appier. McLemore followed with a blast over the right field wall, his first home run of the season.
Scot Shields started the third for Appier, who left with tightness in his right elbow. He retired the first two batters he faced before Glaus bobbled Mike Cameron's grounder to keep the inning alive.
Mabry stroked a run-scoring single to left-center field and advanced to second on the throw to the plate. Davis singled in Mabry to make it 5-1.
An error by Salmon in right field allowed Carlos Guillen to score in the fourth before Anaheim began to get back in the game.
Brad Fullmer ripped a double and scored on Bengie Molina's two-out single in the bottom of the frame. In the fifth, Eckstein and Salmon walked ahead of Anderson's RBI double.
Seattle's defense failed again as Guillen botched a grounder by Glaus, allowing Salmon to score and make it 6-4.
"With winning the World Series (last season), there is a confidence that if it doesn't happen the first time, it will happen the next time," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "If you're a championship caliber club, you're going to keep fighting, keep coming back. We pour our hearts into the 54 outs we're going to play in the game."
