Angels’ Mark Trumbo getting a chance to make his case

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After a rare day off, Angels rookie Mark Trumbo is back in the lineup for Sunday afternoon’s Cactus League exhibition with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

With regular first baseman Kendry Morales still rehabbing the ankle he broke last May, Trumbo is getting an extended opportunity to show what he can do. The slugger, who tied for the minor league lead with 36 home runs last season, has played in seven of the Angels’ eight spring training games and tops the team in at-bats (18) and virtually every other significant offensive category including homers (2), RBIs (4), total bases (13) and slugging (.722). He is also hitting .278 and is tied with Howie Kendrick for the team lead in hits (5).

On the down side, however, he’s struck out in a third of his at-bats and made the team’s first error of the spring.

After losing to former bench coach Ron Roenicke’s Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, the Angels face another old friend Sunday in left-hander Joe Saunders, whom the Angels traded to Arizona last July to get Dan Haren. Here’s the lineup he’ll face:

SS -- Erick Aybar

DH -- Bobby Abreu

RF -- Torii Hunter

LF -- Vernon Wells

2B -- Howie Kendrick

3B -- Maicer Izturis

1B -- Mark Trumbo

C -- Jeff Mathis

CF -- Peter Bourjos

P -- Jered Weaver

-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.