MIKE TROUT broke out of his slump with two hits and three RBIs Thursday as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 9-3 (Keith Allison photo).

Like most teams in sports, the road is not usually the place to get fat, unless you mean eating too much. The key to success in baseball, especially, has been to break even in away games and win at home.

Lately, at least, the Los Angeles Angels have been defying the cliché and are rolling along nicely on the road, including Thursday’s 9-3 win over Mariners in Seattle. The win pushed the team record to 27-29, just one game out of third place in the American League West. It was also their fifth win in six games.

The Halos, who scorched late on Wednesday with five runs in the 11th inning, flipped the script with eight runs in the first six innings. With 15 hits and two home runs – one by Kole Calhoun and one by Cesar Puello – the visitors had all the muscle they needed to drive Seattle starter Yusei Kikuchi out of the game by the fourth inning.

Puello had three hits, raising the rookie’s average to .545. Mike Trout broke out of his slump with two hits and three RBIs.

Felix Pena (3-1) got the win, working 5.1 innings while yielding three hits and three runs. He struck out eight and walked three.

The Angels will play the M’s again today (Friday) with Tyler Skaggs (4-4) starting for them.