How’s it going, folks? Hopefully you had a safe and fun holiday and tuned in for what proved to be a close game.
The Angels got off to a great start, loading the bases in the top of the 1st inning. Jo Adell put the Angels on the board with a bases loaded walk with one out. This was a tremendous opportunity to jump on Toronto’s aging Max Scherzer and get some breathing room.
However, Jorge Soler flied out to right and Mike Trout was cut down at the plate after stutter stepping several times and slowing himself down before sliding. Huge opportunity wasted. Soler would later strike out with runners on first and third to end another scoring threat and waste another opportunity.
Jo Adell delivered another run without a hit in the top of the 3rd, scoring Neto on a sacrifice fly. That pushed the Angels lead to 2-1. That didn’t last long as Silent C hung a sinker to the red hot George Springer who crushed it to dead center for a 2 run shot and a 3-2 Blue Jays lead.
Fortunately, the Angels have Nolan Schanuel who scorched a single to right to tie the game.
That run was set up by rookie Chad Stevens’ sacrifice bunt to move Luis Rengifo into scoring position. It was an interesting day for Stevens and manager Ray Montgomery between the no outs bunt and a horrible decision to attempt a steal earlier in the game. Stevens also logged his first MLB hit in the ballgame.
The score stayed knotted at 3 through regulation and the teams played bonus baseball for the second night in a row. And for the second straight night the Angels failed to score in extra innings. This time in both the 10th and 11th innings.
Toronto had stranded a ton of runners throughout the game but finally came through with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 11th with a single to right to score the winning run. Schanuel got his glove on the ball, but couldn’t corral it. 4-3 Toronto drops the Angels to 2 games under .500.
Let’s try to avoid a sweep tomorrow.
