ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A night after the Angels continually came up short when the game was on the line, they got the job done.
The Angels rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night, scoring two runs in the ninth inning just after they had surrendered the lead by giving up two in the eighth.
Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto, two of the Angels’ struggling hitters, reached base with one out in the ninth. Pinch-runner Jo Adell then stole third, with Neto stealing second a pitch later.
Anthony Rendon drove in Adell to tie the score. Neto was thrown out at the plate.
The Rays then intentionally walked Mike Trout, but Taylor Ward followed with an RBI single, knocking in Rendon with the go-ahead run.
Right-hander Hunter Strickland, who had allowed a two-run homer to Amed Rosario in the eighth, worked the ninth to finish the game for a short-handed Angels bullpen.
The Angels (9-9) had been taxed from Tuesday’s gut-wrenching, 13-inning loss, leaving Adam Cimber and Strickland to pick up all 11 outs after starter Reid Detmers.
Although Detmers, who has been the Angels’ best pitcher so far this season, delivered the quality the Angels needed, they would have liked another inning or two.
Detmers cruised through first four innings, allowing just one unearned run, but in the sixth he gave up singles to the first three hitters of the inning. That cut the Angels lead to 3-2, with runners at the corners.
Detmers got one more out, on a pop-up to the catcher, and then Cimber escaped the jam with a strikeout and a pop-up, preserving the lead.
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Cimber got out of another mess in the seventh inning, this time with the help of a great play by shortstop Zach Neto.
The Rays had runners at first and second with one out, after an infield hit and a hit batter. Dangerous leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz hit a soft liner back up the middle. Neto raced toward the bag and snagged it, then flung himself to slap his glove on the base before the runner could get back, for an inning-ending double play.
The Angels got the scoring started with Trout’s eighth homer of the season, equaling the major league lead.
More to come on this story.
