Matt Thaiss helps Angels erase early deficit to beat Cubs

ANAHEIM — While it remains unclear if Matt Thaiss can captain a ship, his ability to bring valuable cargo to port appears to be unmatched.

Thaiss hit a two-run single that scored Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, capping a five-run fifth inning that was the difference in the Angels’ 7-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

Ohtani and Taylor Ward hit home runs in the opener of a six-game homestand that also will include a visit from the Seattle Mariners.

“Great at-bat; that puts us ahead right there,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said of Thaiss. “You can exhale a little bit with the comeback.”

While Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson appeared as if he might be undone by the Cubs’ four-run second inning, the offense instead rewarded him for the three scoreless innings he produced to end his outing.

“I think the best two innings he’s thrown for us were those fourth and fifth (innings),” Nevin said. “And really the fifth, he comes out and looks like he has a little anger behind him. A kind of finesse pitcher like that it’s probably not the best to have anger behind it, but you saw his velocity come up and he was able to throw his offspeed pitches. He kept us in the game.”

By sending 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning, it was just the kind of uprising the Angels needed following a series in Houston when they lost three of four games and a road trip when they went 3-4. They also put an end to a three-game home losing streak.

“There is always fight in these guys and it’s really cool to see just the entire year now,” said Ward, who hit his seventh home run of the season and third in the past seven games. “When we’re down, or just in the late innings, there is no give up. Everyone is into their at-bats and doing their thing so it’s nice to see.”

In a lineup flip-flop, Ohtani had a hit, two runs scored and two walks as the No. 2 hitter, while Trout had a hit, a run and two walks in the No. 3 spot. Nevin called the move a sequencing adjustment among his left-handed and right-handed hitters and for one inning, anyway, things were perfectly aligned.

Brandon Drury started the Angels’ fifth inning with a double and ended it with a strikeout. In between, Drury scored on a wild pitch by Hayden Wesneski to cut the deficit to 4-2. Ohtani walked against Brandon Hughes (0-3) and Trout followed with a two-run single to center field that tied the score at 4-4.

After Anthony Rendon walked to load the bases in his first game back from the injured list, Thaiss worked a 1-and-1 count before his line drive to center field clipped off the glove of Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson to give the Angels a 6-4 lead.

Four Angels relievers were called on to protect the lead, with Chris Devenski working 1-2/3 scoreless innings, while Carlos Estevez pitched the ninth inning for his 15th save.

The Cubs put two aboard in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate but Sieya Suzuki struck out to end the game.

Anderson (3-1) gave up four runs on five hits over five innings with three walks and five strikeouts. And while his ERA remains a work in progress at 5.62, he did earn a win for the second time in three starts.

“I think having an aggressive mentality out on the mound is a lot better for you than being timid and I feel like I have been pitching timid in general,” Anderson said. “It’s just not a good way to be out there.”

The Cubs’ Mike Tauchman had a two-run single off Anderson in the second inning and Matt Mervis had a two-run double two batters later. But Anderson gave up just one more hit the rest of the way, a two-out single by Nico Hoerner in the fourth inning.

Rendon went 0 for 2 with a walk in his first game since May 13 because of a groin strain and departed after five innings when Gio Urshela took over at third base.

“I kind of said before the game, when I have a chance to get him out of the game with a lead, past that sixth-(inning) mark, it’s not like I’m putting a call-up over at third, I’m putting in a really good defender in Gio,” Nevin said.

While the Angels had five hits, they did work six walks, with only Ohtani’s coming around to score in the fifth.