"All that early batting practice and extra hitting in the cages were not only designed for Vernon Wells to find the stroke that made him one of baseball's more productive hitters for the last 10 years.

"I was taking as many swings as possible," the Angels left fielder said, "to try to get as many of the bad swings out as I can."

Maybe he ran out of bad swings, or maybe he ran out of bad luck, but Wells finally ran into a positive development Wednesday.

Stepping to the plate with an .083 average in the 12th inning, Wells smashed a single off the glove of shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and eventually scored the winning run on Jeff Mathis' sacrifice fly, as the Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3.

The hit was Wells' fifth of the season and second in 31 at-bats and pushed his average to .102, not what you'd expect from a $23-million player but at least a step in the right direction.

"It's good to score a meaningful run," Wells said. "It's been a rough start, but I'm looking forward to bigger and better things. It's starting to come. It's getting close. Once I get dialed in, I'll take off from there."

Wells' hit came off reliever Chad Durbin with one out in the 12th. Alberto Callaspo walked, and both advanced on a wild pitch.

Mark Trumbo was walked intentionally to load the bases, and Mathis drove a fly ball to medium center to score Wells, giving the Angels catcher his third career walk-off run batted in.

"That last at-bat, he stayed on a cutter and hit it hard," Manager Mike Scioscia said of Wells. "Vernon has to take baby steps, and when he finds it, he finds it in a big way for a long time."

The Angels, who played their third extra-inning game in eight games, won two of three from a hot Indians club despite going 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position in the series."