"I really have a long way to go to catch my dad," Matthews said, referring to Gary Matthews Sr., who finished his 16-year career in the majors with 2,011 hits.

"I do feel a sense of pride about my own accomplishment," said the younger Matthews, 34, a switch-hitter who started his major league career a decade ago with the San Diego Padres, then played for several other teams, including Baltimore, before joining the Angels in 2007.

Matthews' march toward 1,000 hits has been slow lately. He was five for 40 last month, or .125, and is still hitting only .229.

Regardless, "I feel fortunate, I really do" to reach 1,000 hits, he said. "I have a lot of pride because I stuck around long enough to do it.

"You have to stay relatively healthy for a long duration," he said. "Last year was really the first year that I had a significant injury," a damaged tendon in his left knee that required surgery.

"Hopefully, there are some more milestones down the road, like a championship," Matthews said.

Despite a 7-1 record this year mainly as a starter, Matt Palmer probably will fill the long reliever's role with the return of Ervin Santana to the starting rotation, Scioscia said.

"I don't know if we're going to rule out that he's not going to get back in the rotation at some point, but that's where we are right now," Scioscia said of Palmer.

Hunter stole a home run from the Rangers for the second straight game, and the Los Angeles Angels rallied twice Saturday night for a 4-3 victory that reduced their magic number to nine for clinching their fourth AL West title in five years.

Hamilton, who leads the majors with 116 RBIs, was lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth because of pain related to the root canal procedure he had to fix an abscessed tooth on Wednesday.