Angels Come Through In Tenth Inning To Take Rubber Game From Astros, 3-2

The Los Angeles Angesl won a series yesterday, as they rode a strong start from Reid Detmers and some clutch hitting from Jose Siri in the tenth inning to win 3-2 and take two of three from the Houston Astros. 

Detmers was the big story. When he’s on he’s nearly unhittable, and that was the case last night. He retired the first 15 hitters, and the Angels backed up him with some long ball, as Mike Trout hit his 15th home run in the first inning and Logan O’Hoppe followed with another solo shot in the fifth to give the Halos a 2-0 lead. 

Detmers gave back half of it in the sixth, however, as he surrendered a solo home run  to Shay Whitcomb. His line reflected his brilliant effort, however, as he gave up just one earned run and struck out nine in seven innings, and he once again proved that command is the key to his game as he didn’t walk a single hitter. 

Reliever Chase Silseth suffered a rare stumble when he took over for Detmers in the eighth, as he gave up a solo homer to Cam Smith that tied the game at 2-2, which almost set the stage for extra innings. 

Before that, though, the Angels had to survive an adventure inning that featured some horrible defense. With reliever Sam Bachman on the mound, Yordan Alvarez singled to left and Christian Walker followed with a double. 

That should have put runners on second and third with two outs, but shortstop Zach Neto airmailed his relay throw to the backstop, and at first glance it looked like Alvarez had scored to put the Astros ahead. The Angels challenged the call on the play at the plate and won, though, as O’Hoppe was able to block Alvarez’s foot and make the tag by a matter of inches. 

Shutting down the visitors in the tenth is almost always a formula for winning in extras, and Ryan Zeferjahn did just that, striking out two hitters and getting Whitcomb on a ground out to give the Angels their opportunity. 

They didn’t waste it. Pinch hitter Donovan Walton wound up with a bunt single as he got ghost runner Nick Madrigal to the third, and Jose Siri ended the suspense with a single to left that drove home Madrigal for the win. 

The series win gave the Angels a fighting chance to escape from the AL West basement as they drew to within 3.5 games of the Astros, and they’ll welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to Anaheim for a three-game weekend set after an off day today.