Game 2 against the Red Sox brought a pitching matchup of Brayan Bello vs. Griffin Canning. The hope was that Canning could pitch well past the first time through the order. What we got was a pretty good pitcher’s duel.
Aside from a walk in the top of the 1st, the Red Sox didn’t pose a threat. However, in the bottom of the inning Zach Neto continued his hot hitting leading off the Angels offense with another home run. 3 out of his 4 home runs so far have been to lead off the game, amazingly.
Walshie and Shohei also had singles in the inning, but to no avail as they became the first two Halo LOBsters of the game. We lead 1-0.
The second inning brought a hit and a walk for the Red Sox, followed by a 1-2-3 bottom half.
In the third inning both teams went down in order, while the fourth inning consisted of only a Red Sox walk.
Canning had another clean inning in the fifth, but the Angels finally got some action going. Matt Thaiss launched a long ball to the opposite field gap to lead off the inning with another solo homer. When he really gets a good swing it is a beautiful thing to behold. Other than a Neto single, nothing else happened in the inning. 2-0 Halos.
Bello and Canning continued into the 6th inning and successfully as both teams went down in order. It wasn’t all boring though. Zach Neto made a great sliding stop and strong throw for the final out of the Boston half. Neato!
Canning continued into the 7th inning and worked around a Casas single sending him back to his casa with an awesome 7 inning, 2-hit, 0 run performance. Harbinger of good things to come? I hope so!
Bello also pitched the 7th inning and the Angels went down 1-2-3 again. Still 2-0 Angels.
In the 8th, Matt Moore came in relief walking the first batter, but then got a near 3-6-1 double play but he dropped the ball covering first base. No problem! Yoshida was nice enough to ground into a real double play.
The bottom of the 8th brought a new Red Sox pitcher, Joely Fisher…erm… I mean Joely Rodriguez. Apparently Nevin was a psychic because he pinch hit for red hot Moniak with ice cold Taylor Ward and it resulted in a doinker double off the third base bag. Then Mike Trout returned from wherever he has been the last several days in style going oppo with a 2-run homer. Nice insurance! 4-0 Angels.
After Ohtani struck out, Renfroe doubled and Walsh walked, knocking Rodriguez out of the game. Cal State Fullerton’s own Justin Garza was his replacement. Aside from some technical difficulties with his PitchCom device, he easily got out of the inning with no more damage done.
Jacob Webb made his Angels debut on the mound to close out the game with zero drama. We win! 4-0 Halos. Light that baby up!
