Angels beat Tigers in 10 innings on walk-off bunt single
ANAHEIM — Once the Angels stopped hitting homers, they had to rely on some help to produce the winning run in their 5-4, 10-inning victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.
Magneuris Sierra’s walk-off bunt single drove in the winning run after the Tigers made an error and threw a wild pitch.
The Angels hit three solo homers in the first two innings, but then their bats went dead for the rest of the night.
After the Tigers had cashed in their automatic runner in the top of the 10th, the Angels got a couple of breaks in the bottom of the inning.
Matt Duffy led off with a fly ball that moved Taylor Ward to third. Andrew Velazquez then hit a grounder right to shortstop Javy Baez, who had Ward at the plate but his errant throw skipped away from catcher Eric Haase.
Velazquez then went to third on a wild pitch. The Tigers walked Chad Wallach.
Sierra then dropped a perfect bunt up the first base line. Left-hander Andrew Chafin grabbed the ball and tried to make an off-balance throw home, but it was not in time.
Up until the winning rally, the Angels had scored all three of their runs on solo homers by Mike Trout, Mike Ford and Jo Adell.
Trout put the Angels on the board in the first inning with a homer to straightaway center field, his 31st of the season. It was Trout’s third homer in a span of six at-bats, from his final at-bat on Sunday. He also singled and doubled in that span.
Trout has now played in 17 games since missing a month with a back injury, but he’s showing no ill effects of either the injury or the time off. He has hit five homers in that span.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Trout said after Monday’s game. “Just being out there with the guys and getting at-bats every day has been big for me. I feel fine. I feel great.”
Ford and Adell hit back-to-back homers in the second inning, both to right field.
It was Adell’s seventh homer of the season, but the first to straightaway right field. That’s a good sign because the Angels have been trying to get him to shorten up his swing, rather than trying to pull everything and swinging for the fences.
Adell said this week that he believes he’s going in the right direction, even if the numbers don’t bear that out.
“It comes in glimmers,” Adell said. “I’m real positive about it. If I continue to work, things will progress and I’ll get more production over time.”
Adell demonstrated that he still has work to do when he struck out in his next two at-bats, swinging through a 90 mph fastball and flailing at a curveball in the dirt.
Meanwhile, Angels starter Mike Mayers bounced back from a rough outing last week against the New York Yankees, when he allowed seven runs in four innings. This one was more in line with the five scoreless innings he pitched in his previous start against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Mayers was charged with two runs in 5-2/3 innings.
He did not allow a run until the fourth, when the Tigers parlayed an infield single and a ground ball through the middle into a run. In the sixth, Mayers gave up a double to Willie Castro, who went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground ball.
Mayers left with a 3-2 lead, but he didn’t get the victory.
After Aaron Loup picked up four outs with the lead intact, José Quijada was charged with a run in the eighth. Quijada gave up a double on a 69 mph blooper that hit the right-field line, and that led to a run scoring on a ground ball against Jimmy Herget.
More to come on this story.