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TEMPE, Ariz. -- Albert Pujols and Howie Kendrick homered, Bobby Abreu had his first good day of the spring and the Angels beat the Diamondbacks, 9-2, at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Friday.
C.J. Wilson, whose previous outing came in a Minor League game on Sunday, got the win, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out seven in 6 1/3 innings during in his next-to-last start of the spring. With that, Wilson -- the Angels' likely No. 4 starter, who's scheduled to pitch Wednesday at Dodger Stadium -- finished the Cactus League with a 1.33 ERA in 20 1/3 innings.
The D-backs rolled out something close to their starting lineup, with Ryan Roberts homering, and Chris Young and Paul Goldschmidt each adding doubles. Josh Collmenter, who will start Arizona's third game of the season, was roughed up for eight runs on 10 hits in four innings to bring his Cactus League ERA to 11.81.
Abreu came into Friday's game 4-for-46, and on Thursday night, was rumored to be involved in a deal to the Indians that was reportedly nixed. He then went 2-for-3 with a couple of RBIs, snapping a five-game hitless streak and giving him his first multi-hit game of what has been a rough spring.
Pujols went 2-for-3 with his fifth homer of the spring and is now batting .404 in Cactus League play. Torii Hunter went 3-for-3 and is batting .347 this spring.
The Angels jumped on Collmenter in the first, with Erick Aybar starting the game with a triple, Kendrick hitting a two-run homer and Abreu contributing a two-run single four batters later. In the third, the Angels began to pull away on a two-run triple by Alberto Callaspo, who later scored on an RBI single by Chris Iannetta.
Up next: The fifth-starter race will continue for the Angels on Saturday, when Garrett Richards starts against the Cubs in Mesa -- opposite lefty Paul Maholm -- and Jerome Williams starts in a Minor League game. Williams, who's out of options and recovering from a strained left hamstring, hurled three scoreless innings in his spring debut on Monday. Richards, who's 23 and hasn't pitched in Triple-A yet, has posted a 3.77 ERA in 14 1/3 Cactus League innings.
Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his columns and his blog, Gonzo and "The Show", and follow him on Twitter @Alden_Gonzalez. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
