Your Los Angeles Angels starting lineup.
The Pitching
Starting pitchers: Grayson Rodriguez v Zebby Matthews. Rodriguez made his first start sine June 14th, when he went on the IL with low back inflammation, came in with an ERA that makes you nervous, and the first inning didn’t help — Kody Clemens hit a sacrifice fly to right scoring Trevor Larnach, and the Angels were down 1-0. After that, Rodriguez settled in for a few innings and held the Twins lineup to three hits over the next four innings with no further damage. In the 6th inning he got Clemens to ground out before the trouble started. Josh Bell doubled, then the trainer came out to take a look at Grayson. He followed that by giving up an infield single to Royce Lewis, moving Bell to third base. That was it for Rodriguez as Samy Natera Jr came in to pitch the rest of the 6th. He promptly gave up a double to Brooks Lee, scoring Bell. Then Martin grounded out, which scored Lewis, before Kreidler stuck out to end the inning. Lead cut to 4-3. Rodriguez needed Natera Jr to pick up an out, he gave up his 2 inherited runners instead. Samy made things interesting in the 7th too, but managed to get Bell to fly out to center field which stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd. Sam Bachman came in and pitched an awesome 8th inning, striking out Lewis, Martin and Caratini. Two good outings in a row for Bachman is what Halo fans could get used to. Kirby Yates came in to close the 9th inning. He got Keaschall to groundout before giving up a double to Larnach, his second of the night. Ryan Jeffers worked an 8 pitch AB before grounding out to third. Clemens lined out to Schanuel, who made a great defensive play to win it. Yates picked up his third save.
Matthews was shaky on the other side. Nine hits in six innings with 94 pitches, giving up four earned run including a balk that scored run. Andrew Morris held down the Angels lineup in the 7th and 8th innings. Travis Adams pitched a clean 9th inning.
Offense
The Angels offense got on the board in the 4th inning. Grissom stepped in with nobody on and went the other way — 369 feet to left, solo shot, his 5th of the year, tie game at 1-1.
Soler doubled, moved over to third on a ground out by Lowe, then scored on a Matthews balk, you taker the free run every time! 2-1 Angels.
The 5th gave the Halos a comfortable lead. Meckler reached on a single, Heineman hit dropped a bunt single, and Neto singled to load the bases. Schanuel then singled to right, scoring Meckler.
Grissom, who is quietly having himself a week, came up and hit a sac fly to right. 4-1 Angels.
Defense
Oswald Peraza with a great back hand and throw to first to close out the 4th.
Nolan Schanuel with the grad to seal the game.
The Bottom Line
Rodriquez came back after a few weeks off rehabbing his back and had a solid performance. The Angels offense did just enough at the right times to get enough runs and pitched well enough to get the win. The Twins, who came in winning 10 of their last 13 against the Angels, left 9 runners on base and went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Angels win 4-3.
