ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Mike Trout did it again. With a little help from his friends, including a gimpy Albert Pujols.

Torii Hunter's sacrifice fly with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning brought Alberto Callaspo home, giving the Angels a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.

It was a victory the Angels absolutely needed. With Oakland and Baltimore both winning, the Angels stayed 4{ games behind in the wild-card race.

The Angels battled back from down 5-2 with two runs in the sixth, but it looked as if the Red Sox would hang on. Boston reliever Alfredo Aceves, coming off a three-game suspension by the team for a clubhouse outburst last week, was not allowed on the team charter, arriving in Orange County on a commercial flight. But he was calm enough to pitch a perfect eighth.

He unraveled in the ninth. With one out, he hit Erick Aybar with a pitch, and Aybar then stole second. Aceves walked Callaspo, then came Trout.

Trout, who homered to lead off the game (his 25th homer of the season), fell behind 0-2 on a pair of sizzling fastballs from Aceves. The next pitch arrived at 95 mph and went back the other way as Trout singled up the middle, scoring Aybar to tie the game at 5-5.

Hunter swung at a pitch for a strike, and hit the next pitch to center. With only one out, it was caught, but it was well deep enough for Callaspo to score the winner.

Pujols, who missed four consecutive games because of a sore right calf, was the designated hitter, and he went 2 for 4, including a solo homer in the sixth, his 29th of the season.

The Angels won despite a third consecutive poor start from Jered Weaver (16-4). He gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits in seven innings.

Except for the game in which he hurt his back (May 28 against the Yankees), Weaver was invincible at Angel Stadium from April-July. In nine starts, he went 8-0 with an ERA of 0.92 and three home runs allowed. In his last three home starts, Weaver has allowed 16 earned runs in 17 innings, and five homers.

The Angels still clawed back from three runs down in the sixth. Pujols homered deep into the rockpile in left-center, the trot giving his sore right calf a break. Howie Kendrick's RBI double got the Angels to 5-4.

Clay Buchholz (12-4) got out of a jam in the seventh. Trout blooped a single to right that Ryan Kalish misplayed, sending Trout scooting to second. But with one out, Torii Hunter tried to bunt, and the ball popped up a few feet to the right. Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway made a terrific diving grab for the second out. Pujols went the other way with an outside changeup from Buchholz, but the ball floated to right for an easy third out.


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