Angels rally for 6-5 win over Indians, giving Mike Scioscia 1,000th career victory
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The Angels rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday, two of them coming on Erick Aybar’s tiebreaking two-run double, for a 6-5 win over the Cleveland Indians that gave Manager Mike Scioscia
his 1,000th career victory.
The Indians scored twice off Angels reliever Fernando Rodney to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth, but Howie Kendrick sparked the rally in the bottom of the inning with a one-out double to right off reliever Rafael Perez.
Hank Conger struck out for the second out, but Mark Trumbo, facing right-hander Joe Smith, reached on an infield single to put runners on first and third. Peter Bourjos then beat out a chopper that bounced high off the plate and to the mound for an infield single that scored Kendrick for a 4-4 tie.
Aybar followed with a double over the head of left fielder Austin Kearns, who was playing the leadoff batter fairly shallow. Trumbo and Bourjos scored to give the Angels a 6-4 lead.
The Indians nicked Angels closer Jordan Walden for a run in the top of the ninth on back-to-back one-out doubles by Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera. But Walden struck out Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana for his sixth save, as the Angels held on.
Angels starter Dan Haren allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out 10 and walking one, and reliever Scott Downs struck out Sizemore to end the seventh and protect a 3-2 lead.
But Rodney couldn’t hold it in the eighth, suffering his second blown save of the season. Cabrera led off with an infield single, a grounder that went off of Rodney’s backside because the pitcher wasn’t in position to field a ball after his follow-through.
Choo flied to right, but Santana lined a single to right that advanced Cabrera to third. Torii Hunter, who had just entered the game as a defensive replacement, appeared to have a shot at Cabrera, but his throw sailed over the head of third baseman Alberto Callaspo, as Santana took second.
Travis Hafner grounded a single to shallow center to score Cabrera with the tying run, and Santana scored on Orlando Cabrera’s fielder’s-choice grounder to give the Indians a 4-3 lead.
Cleveland right-hander Fausto Carmona blanked the Angels on four hits through five innings and retired the first two batters in the sixth before Maicer Izturis stroked a single to right field. Third baseman Adam Everett then booted Vernon Wells’ grounder to his left, and the Angels pounced on the mistake.
Callaspo drove a double to the left-center-field gap that scored Izturis and Wells to tie it, 2-2. Kendrick’s infield single, a slow roller down the third-base line, put runners on first and third, and Conger blooped an RBI single to center for a 3-2 lead before Trumbo popped out to third, ending the inning.
The Indians had scored in the second inning, on Kearns’ two-out RBI single to left-center, and in the fifth inning on Sizemore’s solo home run to straightaway center field, his fifth of the season.
RELATED:
Angels-Indians: Inning-by-inning recap
--Mike DiGiovanna