Greinke fans 13 as Halos beat M's

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Zack Greinke had a season-high 13 strikeouts in five innings, and the Angels got home runs from Torii Hunter and Erick Aybar on Tuesday night in a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners that kept Los Angeles two games behind Oakland for the second AL wild card.

According to ESPN Stats, Greinke became the first pitcher in the live-ball era (since 1920) to strike out 13 batters in a start that lasted only five innings. Randy Johnson had 13 through his first five frames on July 4, 2001, for Arizona against Houston, but he threw one more inning.

The 20 combined strikeouts by Angels pitchers tied a major league record for a nine-inning game.

Justin Smoak homered twice for the Mariners, a solo shot in the fourth against Greinke and a two-run drive off Scott Downs during a three-run seventh that sliced the Angels' lead to 5-4.

Greinke (6-2) won his fifth straight decision over seven starts, allowing seven hits and escaping a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by striking out Eric Thames. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner came within two strikeouts of his career best, which came on Aug. 25, 2009, with Kansas City against Cleveland.

He left after 110 pitches because of a pitch count set by manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher - which burned the Angels in each of the right-hander's previous two outings.

Those games both resulted in 109-pitch no-decisions for Greinke. In the first one, he allowed one run in 8 1/3 innings at Kansas City before closer Ernesto Frieri gave up the tying and go-ahead runs on homers. Last Thursday, Greinke gave up one run over eight innings against Texas before Frieri yielded a tiebreaking, two-run homer by Adrian Beltre.

In all, Greinke has 16 wins this season, tying his career high. The nine-year veteran has a 3.40 ERA in 12 starts since joining the Angels in a trade with Milwaukee on July 27. He was 9-2 with a 3.44 ERA in 21 starts for the Brewers.