"Torii Hunter's bat didn't actually resemble an icicle over his past 30 games, it just seemed that way.

But he went into Saturday's game against the Seattle Mariners with a frosty average of .226 with one home run and nine RBIs in his past 106 at-bats.

Then Hunter slammed the first pitch he saw from Mariners right-hander Michael Pineda in the third inning over the left-center field fence for a three-run homer, propelling the Angels to a 9-3 victory and perhaps signaling that a thaw is underway.

The veteran right fielder also hit a two-run homer off Pineda in the fifth inning for a season-high five-RBI game and added a broken bat single in the eighth off reliever Chris Ray, raising his batting average to .247 from .241 to start the game.

The Angels battered Mariners pitching for 12 hits en route to their third consecutive victory, their seventh in their last eight games and their 12 th in their last 14. They are 49-42, one game behind the American League West-leading Texas Rangers.

Go figure.

Hunter has.

"This is the team I thought we should be," he said.

Earlier in the day, Hunter said he sent a text message to New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter congratulating him on his 3,000 hit.

Hunter marveled that Jeter got No. 3,000 with a home run. Then Hunter went out and got his 1,747 th hit.

"He threw it in the only place I could get it," Hunter said, referring to a 93-mph fastball that Pineda left

a little too far over the plate with one run in and one out in the third inning. "I couldn't see it (during a strikeout in a first-inning at-bat).""