ANAHEIM ― For the second consecutive night, the Angels did not put enough runners on base to have a chance to beat the Minnesota Twins.
Until the ninth inning.
Down to their final strike, the Angels tied the game on a two-run triple by Magneuris Sierra to send the game into extra innings.
Then in the 11th inning, a two-run home run by Taylor Ward against Emilio Pagan lifted the Angels to a stunning 5-3 win before an announced crowd of 43,027. It was the third time the Angels have won a game this season in their final plate appearance.
The Angels were trailing 3-0 in the eighth inning when Shohei Ohtani blasted a home run to center field against flamethrowing reliever Jhoan Duran. That represented the Angels’ first run in the series.
The Angels’ six-through-nine hitters were a combined 1 for 12 with no walks going into the ninth inning when number-6 hitter Jo Adell singled against the Twins’ recently-acquired closer, Jorge Lopez. With two outs, Lopez walked Max Stassi. That brought up Sierra, the Angels’ number-9 hitter.
Sierra stroked Lopez’s 1-and-2 pitch to left field, slicing toward the line and away from Nick Gordon. Gordon dove, but the ball snuck under his glove and trickled all the way to the wall. Adell and Stassi scored, tying the game 3-3.
Sierra could’ve cruised comfortably into third base, but coach Mike Gallego windmilled him home. Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, the relay man on the play, made a near-perfect throw from shallow left field to catcher Gary Sanchez. Sierra couldn’t get his left hand under Sanchez’s tag. Home plate umpire Dan Bellino called Sierra out, a call that was upheld after a brief review.
After Jose Quintana pitched a scoreless 10th inning, the Angels had an even better chance to end the game in the bottom of the inning.
Sierra was placed on second base in accordance with the extra-inning tiebreaker rule. David Fletcher bunted Sierra to third base, and Emilio Pagan intentionally walked Ohtani.
The next batter, Luis Rengifo, hit a scorching line drive to shallow center field, where only a lightning sprint and last-second dive by Byron Buxton kept the ball from falling for a hit. Ohtani, anticipating the ball would fall for a hit, ran all the way to second base and was doubled off first to end the inning.
Ryan Tepera (2-2) pitched a scoreless 11th inning and was credited with the win.
Angels starter Reid Detmers essentially limited the Twins’ damage to one batter. Correa hit a solo home run in the first inning and hit a fly ball to right field a few feet shy of a grand slam in the fifth inning, settling for a sacrifice fly.
Detmers did not allow another run in five innings, walking three batters and striking out nine. Other than Correa’s home run, he did not allow an extra-base hit. He threw 29 of his 96 pitches in the fifth inning, but allowed only one run to score after Minnesota loaded the bases with nobody out.
The Twins collected an insurance run in the eighth inning against Aaron Loup, using two singles and a swinging safety squeeze to take a 3-0 lead.
Ohtani’s 26th home run of the season came on a 2-and-1 count. He took advantage of a hanging breaking ball over the plate from Duran, who did not throw Ohtani a fastball in the four-pitch at-bat. He is tied for fifth in the American League with 26 homers.
Pitching out of trouble was the Angels’ saving grace. The Twins went 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position and left 14 men on base. Correa ― booed before every plate appearance, a remnant of his role in the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal ― reached base five times in addition to his sac fly.
Dylan Bundy entered Saturday’s start for the Minnesota Twins with a 6.01 earned-run average in 22 games in Anaheim. Two years ago, when he picked up Cy Young votes as the ace of the Angels’ starting rotation, he had a 4.38 ERA at home and 1.88 on the road.
In his first start since leaving the Angels after the 2021 season, Bundy tossed five shutout innings.
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