Angels' Pujols, Shoemaker both banged up

ANAHEIM – The injury that forced Albert Pujols to leave Monday's game doesn't appear to be serious. The one that ended Matt Shoemaker's night could be more worrisome.

Shoemaker, the Los Angeles Angels rookie who manager Mike Scioscia said "saved our season,'' will undergo an MRI on Tuesday after leaving Monday's 8-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners with a side injury. Shoemaker was in the process of improving to 16-4 when he felt discomfort after making a pitch to Humberto Quintero in the eighth.

Scioscia pulled him and said afterward, "We're concerned when something like that happens to a pitcher. Sometimes it's a cramp or a little stitch and these guys bounce right back, and sometimes there's issues with an oblique that keep guys down for a long time. We don't know what the range is right now.''

Shoemaker said he felt discomfort on his left side but was not concerned because it had subsided afterward.

Pujols sounded even more optimistic even though at first his injury looked like it might sideline him for a while.

Pujols had just hit a three-run double that gave him 97 RBI for the season when he grabbed the underside of his left thigh as he approached second base in the third inning. He left the game with what the club described as a left-hamstring cramp.

"I knew right away it was a cramp,'' Pujols said. "It has been really hot the last couple of days and you can put as much fluids in your body as you can, but at the end of the day, you can't ignore the weather.''

Southern California in the midst of a heat wave and the game-time temperature was a bone-dry 91 degrees.

Pujols is enjoying a bounce-back season, batting .274 with 26 homers and ranking second on the club in RBI after battling through problems with his plantar fascia that limited him to 99 games last year.

With Mike Trout and Pujols spearheading the lineup, the Angels lead the majors in runs scored and clinched a playoff spot with Monday's victory, which reduced their magic number for winning the AL West to three.

The Angels got good news earlier in the day when left fielder Josh Hamilton hit on the field and performed well in a workout as he seeks to return from an injury to his shoulder/upper back that has forced him to miss the last 11 games. Hamilton said he may return to the lineup in the next couple of days.