April 21, 2017
Just when you thought things could only get better for the Angels, they lose to the team with the worst record in baseball on Friday night at the Big A. The Blue Jays defeated the Angels 8-7 in 13 innings in the first of a four game set.
Jose Bautista hit his first homer of the season, a 3-run blast coming in the top of the 13th inning, to put the Jays ahead 8-5. The Halos threatened in the 9th inning, but Toronto held on for just it’s 4th victory of the season.
The Blue Jays were off to their worst start in franchise history, and Bautista was hitting only .109 coming into the game. The Angels haven’t been much better, now losers of 9 of their last 10 games, and tied for last place in the AL West.
The Angels were forced to use Jesse Chavez in the 13th inning. Chavez took the loss, and was schedule to start on Sunday. The Halos used all of their position players and relievers.
After a walk and two Toronto errors, the Halos loaded the bases in the bottom of the 13th inning with nobody out. The Jays brought in reliever Joe Biagini, who struck out Cliff Pennington for the 1st out of the inning.
A single by Kole Calhoun, and a walk to Mike Trout made the score 8-7. However, Albert Pujols struck out, and CJ Cron lined out to center to end the game. Biagini earned the save, and Ryan Tepera got credit for the win after pitching 3 scoreless innings of relief.
The Angels started Alex Meyer, who made his season debut after being called up from the minors. However, he didn’t last long, pitching only 3 2/3rd innings. He yielded two runs on four hits, walking four, and also had a wild pitch that scored one of the runs. The Jays had a 2-0 lead heading to the bottom of the 3rd.
Albert Pujols gave the Angels the lead with a 3-run double in that 3rd inning. Two innings later, Mike Trout hit a solo home run and it was 4-2 Halos.
A few innings later, the Angels gave the lead right back. With a 4-3 lead, Bud Norris walked two and gave way to Cam Bedrosian, who promptly wild pitched the runners up a base and gave up a two-run double to Justin Smoak.
An RBI double from Jefrey Marte in the 8th inning would tie the game at 5-5. It appeared the ball may have bounced off the bottom of the foul pole, but after a review it was ruled a double.
After all that, the Angels and Jays will be back at it on Saturday night at the Big A in game 2 of the series. Tyler Skaggs (0-1; 5.19 ERA) will get the ball for the Angels, and the Jays will counter with Casey Lawrence (0-1; 13.50 ERA).