Major League Baseball

Angels 9, Diamondbacks 8

Published Mar. 12, 2011 12:42 a.m. ET

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Bobby Wilson made a pretty strong case in his competition to be the Angels starting catcher.

Wilson went 5 for 5 and hit a tying double in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-8 Friday.

''(Wilson) defensively was terrific,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ''Those five hits didn't hurt him either.''

Hitting in a lineup with most of the Angels' likely starters, Wilson couldn't have made a better case to beat out Jeff Mathis and Hank Conger.

Wilson also worked in the offseason, dropping 30 pounds.

''You can tell - he bounces around a lot better,'' Angels ace Jered Weaver said. ''He's come a long way and he puts a lot of thought into it. He's going to be big for us this year and he showed it today.''

Conger wasn't completely outshined - he hit the winning RBI single off Brian Sweeney with one out.

Mark Trumbo had three hits, including a three-run homer, and four RBIs.

Weaver allowed four hits and three runs, two earned, with six strikeouts over four innings in his third Cactus League start.

''The off-speed stuff is coming along,'' Weaver said. ''It's another step in the right direction.''

Arizona minor-leaguer Wade Miley pitched in place of Joe Saunders, who was scratched because he was ill.

Wiley allowed eight hits and five earned runs in three innings.

Trumbo's fourth homer of the spring came off Miley. Vernon Wells added an RBI single in a two-run Angels' fourth to extend the lead to 7-3.

Arizona rallied for four runs in the eighth, two coming in on Wily Mo Pena's long homer to center. Pena's homer was his third of the spring.

Notes: Scioscia had Maicer Izturis leading off with Bobby Abreu hitting second. Torii Hunter, Vernon Wells and Howie Kendrick hit 3-4-5 with Erick Aybar sixth, Mark Trumbo 7th and Wilson and Peter Bourjos the bottom two. ... Scioscia was hoping clean-up hitter Kendrys Morales would be able to start the season at first base. Morales has still not seen any spring action and is recovering from leg surgery last May. Scioscia said Morales has been running at full speed on practice fields and could be ready by ''the latter part of next week,'' which would leave Morales about 13 or 14 Cactus League games to play in. ... Expected Angels closer Fernando Rodney worked one perfect inning of relief Friday, with a strikeout. ... Arizona's Brandon Allen had three hits.

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