ANAHEIM, Calif. — Edwin Diaz’s return to a save situation wouldn’t be simple. But then again, when is it for a closer?

Four days after his third blown save of the season, Diaz was asked to do more than expected in a place that hasn’t been kind to him or the Mariners’ bullpen.

But in an outing reminiscent of why he took over the role a little over a year ago, Diaz shut the door on a 5-3 victory for the Mariners and a series win vs. the Angels on Sunday.

The last time Diaz pitched at Angels Stadium, he walked off the mound following an unforgettable bullpen meltdown in which a six-run lead was squandered in the ninth inning, and he gave up the game-winning, walk-off hit. Neither that catastrophe nor his recent struggles entered his mind in this outing.

“I don’t think like that,” he said. “That’s the past. That game was two months ago. You move forward.”

With two outs and runners on second and third in an already wild eighth inning, Diaz jogged into the game trying to protect a two-run lead with future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols at the plate.

“They told me to be ready for Pujols at any point in the eighth,” he said. “I went after him, made my pitch and got the ground ball.”

Indeed, the crowd of 39,279 groaned as the ball bounced to shortstop Jean Segura for what appeared to be a routine out.

But since odd things seem to happen to the Mariners in Angels Stadium, the ball skipped up on Segura, who bobbled it, grabbed it and fired quickly to first base.

“It was a tricky hop,” Segura said. “I charged and bobbled it a little bit. I was able to get a hand on it and throw it hard. You want to get rid of the ball as quick as you can. I know Pujols is a little slow, but you have to get rid of it.”

The throw was to the outfield side of first base. But Danny Valencia made a marvelous stretching grab of the wayward attempt while barely keeping his foot on the base.

“I watch a lot of football on Sundays and try to incorporate that,” Valencia said. “It was a great play by Jean to stay with it.”

The Angels asked for a replay review, but the call on the field was confirmed.

Valencia was admittedly nervous during the review.

“It happened so fast you really don’t know,” he said. “You feel like you did, but you just don’t know.”

With that mess cleaned up, Diaz came out for the ninth and mowed through the three Angels hitters, striking out two, including Cliff Pennington to end the game and notch his 13th save.

“We knew Diaz was going to have to get us four or five outs,” manager Scott Servais said. “Talking with Eddie the last couple of days, the thing that really stood out is that he pitched. He didn’t just go out there and throw. Just make your pitches. He got ahead in the count; he used his slider. It was very good to see.”

The late-inning drama overshadowed a solid outing from starter James Paxton.

Paxton flirted with perfection early in the game. He retired the first 15 batters he faced with ruthless precision, needing just 57 pitches with 41 of them strikes.

“He didn’t have his best stuff, but he really pitched well,” Servais said.

Paxton’s fastball touched 97 mph but was usually around 95 mph while the curveball was more effective. He also used his changeup early in counts to keep hitters off balance.

“I didn’t have my best fastball today,” Paxton said. “We used the changeup early and got some early contact.”

His bid for a perfect game came to an end with one out in the sixth when Danny Espinosa hit a soft liner to left field just out of the reach of a leaping Segura.

A baserunning mistake by Espinosa ended the inning.

While Paxton was dealing, Seattle provided adequate run support on Segura’s RBI single in the third inning and RBI double in the fifth inning. They were two of his four hits.

After six innings of relative ease and pitching rhythm, Paxton suddenly became disjointed in the seventh, losing his release point on pitches. With one out, he walked Kole Calhoun and Albert Pujols and gave up an RBI single to Yunel Escobar that cut the lead to 2-1.

Servais immediately went to his bullpen, calling on right-hander Steve Cishek to face Andrelton Simmons.

Cishek threw one pitch and got a ground ball back to the mound that he gloved and started an inning-ending double play.

With their lead trimmed to one run, the Mariners answered in the top of the eighth against hard-throwing reliever Keynan Middleton.

Segura led off with a single, Ben Gamel worked a walk and Robinson Cano blasted his 17th homer — a high fly ball off the foul pole in right field to make it 5-1.

But Nick Vincent, who hadn’t allowed a run in his last 14 appearances covering 16 innings, gave up four straight hits to start the eighth and cut the lead to 5-2.

Guillermo Heredia saved Vincent and the Mariners with a brilliant leaping grab over his shoulder on a rocket to center off the bat of Cameron Maybin.

Instead of a bases-clearing double, it went for a sacrifice fly. With one out, Marc Rzepczynski got Kole Calhoun to pop out and then handed the ball to Diaz.