The Los Angeles Angels won another wild one today as Nolan Schanuel came through in the 11th inning against Seattle.
The Los Angeles Angels continued their entertaining start to the 2026 season as they won the rubber game of their three-game set against the Seattle Mariners, 8-7 in 11 innings.
This was a high-scoring battle between division rivals that featured plenty of back-and-forth scoring, with both teams making exciting comebacks. The Angels got on the board first with a single run driven in by Jorge Soler, who drove in Zach Neto.
George Klassen made his MLB debut as the starter for the Angels after a strong spring training, but it didn’t go well. Klassen struck out five, but he also walked four and gave up two runs in 2-2/3 innings, with manager Kurt Suzuki pulling Klassen early to limit the damage. Those hits and walks gave Seattle the lead, as Leo Rivas plated a pair of runners with an RBI single to give Seattle a 2-1 lead.
The two teams then began to trade offensive punches. The Angels took the lead, 4-2, with the help of some sketchy Seattle defense and an infield hit by Nolan Schanuel, who had more of his share of heroics in this one. Seattle countered with a three-run homer by Cole Young to make it 5-4.
After that the Angels and Mariners swapped single runs. The Angels specialty of the day offensively was leadoff doubles, as they hit four of them to set a franchise record, and the Halos went into the ninth with a 7-6 lead.
Reliever Sam Bachman had a chance to lock this one down, but he couldn’t quite finish off the two-inning save as he subbed in for closer Jordan Romero. The run he gave up was heartbreaking, as it happened on a bloop single by Cal Raleigh followed by a soft single by Julio Rodriguez.
The extra frames were just as thrilling. Both teams plated their ghost runner in the tenth, with Seattle scoring on an RBI single by Randy Arozerana, and the Angels countered with a sac fly by Logan O’Hoppe.
Reliever Shaun Anderson entered the game in the tenth and became the hero as he stopped Seattle from sending their ghost runner home in the 11th by striking out Cal Raleigh with the bases loaded. That gave the Angels a chance to win in the bottom of the inning, and Oswald Peraza laid down a great sacrifice bunt after the Mariners elected to walk Zach Neto intentionally.
Nolan Schanuel then came through with a sacrifice fly to left to give Anderson the win and send the Easter Sunday crowd home happy.
The one downside for the Angels was the injury to Mike Trout, who was hit by a pitch that struck the guard he was wearing off his left hand. Trout managed to shake off the injury, and for a moment it looked like he might stay in the game, but Suzuki elected to remove him, so Angels fans will await an update with crossed fingers.