April 9, 2017

The Angels did the unthinkable on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim.  The Halos rallied from a 6-run deficit in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Mariners 10-9.  The win completed a 3-game sweep over Seattle.

The 9th inning rally was started by Albert Pujols hitting his 592nd career home run, a solo blast which made it 9-4.  After an RBI groundout from Danny Espinosa and a 2-run double from Yunel Escobar, the score was 9-7.  Pujols would come through again later in the inning, hitting a 2-run single to tie the game at 9-9 with 2 outs and the bases loaded.  Cliff Pennington had the game-winning RBI single after that, scoring Mike Trout, which capped the epic comeback.

Andrew Bailey collected the win for the Angels, after he pitched a scoreless 9th.  Edwin Diaz took the loss for Seattle, after allowing the final 3 runs of the game.

The Angels couldn’t generate much against M’s starter Hisashi Iwakuma.  Iwakuma went 6 innings, giving up just 1 run on two hits.  Matt Shoemaker didn’t fare very well in his start for the Angels.  Shoemaker went 4 1/3rd innings, yielding 6 earned runs on 5 hits.

“That was unbelievable,” Shoemaker said. “That was absolutely awesome. Those guys picked me up huge. I had a really, really sour day turn out sweet.”

It was the first time since Aug. 28, 1986, that the Angels scored at least seven runs in the ninth inning to win.

“We found some holes, those guys helped us with a couple of walks and we just had good at-bats all the way through,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “There was some incredible clutch hitting at the end.”

The Angels will get Monday off before beginning a 3-game set with the Rangers at the Big A on Tuesday.  The first game of the series will feature Tyler Skaggs pitching for the Angels, and Cole Hammels on the Hill for the Rangers.