Wednesday's loss is first of its kind in 30 years

ANAHEIM -- When the Mariners fell to the Angels on Wednesday night, it was the first time since 1983 that Seattle lost a 1-0 game in which the only run scored on a wild pitch.

The Angels beat Joe Saunders when Mike Trout crossed home plate in the sixth inning on a pitch in the dirt that bounced off the chest of catcher Mike Zunino.

But it turns out, Saunders was no stranger to that rare situation. The last Major League game that ended 1-0 with the only run coming on a wild pitch was April 2, 2008, when Saunders was the winning pitcher for the Angels as Howie Kendrick scored on Nick Blackburn's misfire in Minnesota.

Saunders was kicking himself for Wednesday's wild pitch, but recognized it was just part of the game as he threw a low 1-2 offering trying to get Mark Trumbo to chase something out of the zone.

"It was a change down," he said. "I was trying to get him to hit it on the ground or swing and miss, but it just took a funny hop off Zuni's chest and got away a little bit too much. Just one of those unfortunate things."

Trumbo followed with a base hit, so Trout likely would have scored anyway. Manager Eric Wedge said Zunino, catching his sixth Major League game, has been excellent behind the plate.

"Mike has done a nice job blocking the ball," Wedge said. "That one got away from him a little bit. But who's to say what would have happened anyway."