If you looked at the records and ERA’s of tonight’s starting pitchers you probably would have expected a high scoring game. So naturally, the game was tied at 1-1 heading to the 9th inning.
Kyle Hendricks was his normal wiley self. He mixed pitch speeds and locations without lighting up the radar gun. He spun 6 frames of 1 run baseball and gave the Angels a chance to win the game.
The old man was spotted a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd inning thanks to a monster shot by Zach Neto. This one bounced off the railroad tracks behind the left field seats.
Hendricks promptly gave that run back in the bottom of the 3rd but limited the damage from that point. His final line was 6 innings, 1 earned run, 2 K’s, and no walks. In short, it was as good of a start as you can expect from Hendricks.
Reid Detmers pitched a scoreless 7th inning after Hendricks was pulled from the game. Jose Fermin blanked the side in the 8th.
With 1 out in the top of the 9th, Luis Rengifo singled. Next up, Logan O’Hoppe singled. Next man up Matthew Lugo singled but Luis Rengifo got a horrible jump from 2nd base and did not score.
That brought up trade acquisition Oswald Peraza with the bases loaded and 1 out. The kid roped a long fly ball to the right field corner that looked like a perfect sacrifice fly, but it tailed away from Cam Smith and smacked off the wall for a 2 run double.
A strikeout by Neto was followed by walks to Moncada and Trout to push in another Angels run and push the lead to 4-1. Ultimately Taylor Ward struck out to end the inning.
The K continues to be a problem for the Angels and they added 14 to their league leading total tonight. Hat tip to Luis Rengifo, who was the only Angel to play the full game without striking out.
Kenley Jansen worked around a leadoff walk and pitched a scoreless bottom of the 9th to secure the win. He was aided by a tremendous play by Jo Adell to get the last out.
