April 22, 2017

Andrelton Simmons hit a grand slam and the Angels held on to beat the Blue Jays 5-4 at the Big A on Saturday night.

Simmons hit a tie-breaking grand slam in the 3rd inning, the 2nd of his career, and also made a spectacular defensive play in the 9th.  The Angel shortstop made a diving stop to help turn the fourth double play of the game, and end the Jays final threat of the evening.

“Double plays are great, but grand slams are cool, too, especially when you win,” Simmons said.

The Blue Jays jumped out to a 1-0 lead  against Tyler Skaggs in the 1st inning.  Justin Smoak came through with an RBI single.

The Halos tied it in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from CJ Cron, which scored Mike Trout.

After Simmons made it 5-1, the Jays were held in check until the 8th inning.  That’s when Kevin Pillar hit a 2-run homer against Kirby Yates.  Smoak would take Yates deep to start the 9th, and the Angels found themselves clinging to a 5-4 lead.

The Blue Jays then had the tying run on first with nobody out  when Devon Travis hit a grounder up the middle that Simmons turned into that spectacular 6-4-3 double play.

Skaggs got the win, pitching 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and striking out 4.  He picked up his first win of the season, and is now 1-1.  Bud Norris came in during the 9th inning to record the save.

Casey Lawrence took the loss for the Jays.  He’s now 0-2 on the season after pitching 6+ innings, yielding 4 earned runs on 8 hits, and striking out 4.

The Angels and Jays are back at it tomorrow afternoon in game 3 of the series.  Jesse Chavez (1-3; 5.00 ERA) will go for the Halos, and Marcus Stroman (1-2; 4.05 ERA) will get the call for Toronto.