CHICAGO ? The Chicago Cubs were grateful the temperature cooled to 74 degrees and the wind was blowing in at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night. Otherwise, the Angels might have hit a dozen home runs.
One night after high heat and humidity and a stiff breeze blowing out sent balls flying out of the ballpark, conditions hardly seemed conducive to a game of power ball.
That did nothing to deter the Angels, who hit five home runs, two by surging outfielder Josh Hamilton and one by Albert Pujols, in a 13-2 victory over the Cubs in which they bunched all of their home runs and 11 of 15 hits in a five-run first inning and a six-run fifth.
BOX SCORE: Angels 13, Chicago Cubs 2
The Angels also had five doubles and a triple for 11 extra-base hits, the most since they had 13 on June 20, 1980, against the Boston Red Sox.
"You had to hit it legitimately to get it out of center field, left-center and right-center," Manager Mike Scioscia said after the Angels won for the 11th time in 14 games. "We squared the ball up well."
C.J. Wilson didn't need double-digit run support. The left-hander limited Chicago to one run and four hits in seven innings, striking out six and not walking anyone ? a rarity for him ? to improve to 9-6 and lower his earned-run average to 3.37. He has a 2.60 ERA in his last eight starts.
Wilson followed Brendan Harris' two-run home run in the sixth inning with a single to right field, took third with a hard slide on Erick Aybar's single and scored on Pujols' bases-loaded walk.
The hit "was sweet," Wilson said, "but I love running the bases. You feel like it's a full baseball game when you get to do all that stuff."
Hamilton's three-run shot to right field against starter Jeff Samardzija highlighted a first-inning rally that included Mike Trout's run-scoring double and Mark Trumbo's home run to left field, his team-leading 20th.
Pujols hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning, the 490th of his career and 28th in 88 games in Wrigley Field, and Hamilton followed with a home run to right field, the team's ? and the highly paid duo's ? first consecutive home runs.
"That was super cool," Wilson said.
"It was awesome, man," Hamilton said.
What did Pujols think?
"Who cares about it?" he said. "We don't care about it. We're doing our jobs, driving in runs and helping our ballclub win. We're in the middle of the lineup. Our job is to produce, and you're going to struggle more than you produce. That's the way this game is."
No one has struggled more this season than Hamilton, who was hitting .207 with 10 home runs and 25 runs batted in June 23. But Hamilton is 18 for 52 (.346) with four home runs, 14 RBIs, 12 runs and three doubles in his last 14 games, raising his average to .229.
"I've been swinging the bat better the last two or three weeks, I feel good," said Hamilton, whose run-scoring groundout in the eighth inning gave him a season-high five RBIs.
"I'm getting back to doing what I do and not worrying about everybody else. There are guys here who really care about me, players and coaches. I'm listening to them and tuning everybody else out."
mike.digiovanna@latimes.com
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