ANAHEIM ― The Angels beat the Miami Marlins in their final plate appearance on Tuesday evening, 4-3, when a play at the plate ended their season-opening homestand in dramatic fashion.
Drama isn’t always pretty.
Pinch-runner Tyler Wade scored the winning run when Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas fumbled a routine ground ball off the bat of Max Stassi, then easily beat the throw home with a foot-first slide.
One by one, the players in the Angels’ dugout eagerly jumped onto the field to chase Stassi around the infield, celebrating as if he had hit a clean line drive into the outfield. The game-ending miscue – not officially scored an error – delivered an Angels victory just the same before an announced crowd of 16,132 at Angel Stadium.
The Angels are 3-3 as they hit the road for their first trip of 2022.
Mike Trout walked twice and scored twice in his return to the lineup after a one-day absence due to illness. He drew a free pass in the sixth inning before Anthony Rendon launched a two-run home run against Marlins left-hander Tanner Scott. It was Rendon’s first home run since July 4 of last year, his final game before undergoing season-ending hip surgery.
Rendon’s blast into the left-field corner gave the Angels a short-lived 3-1 lead. In the top of the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr. pulled a ball that drifted into the right-field corner for a two-run homer against Angels pitcher Mike Mayers.
Starting pitchers Patrick Sandoval and Jesus Luzardo were impressive in their 2022 debuts, aided perhaps by the afternoon shadows and a whipping wind that stopped many fly balls dead in their tracks.
Luzardo struck out a career-high 12 batters in a mere five innings. The Angels got their only run against the hard-throwing lefty in the fourth inning, when Trout walked and scored on a triple into the right-field corner by Jack Mayfield.
Sandoval threw 71 pitches in his first regular-season start since Aug. 13 of last year, when a back injury ended his season. That was enough to get him twice through the Marlins’ lineup, a relatively quick outing that featured its ups and downs.
The Mission Viejo native struck out the side on 11 pitches in the first inning. He walked the bases loaded in the second. Sandoval finally allowed a run in the third, when Bryan De La Cruz lined a single into right field that kicked off the glove of Jo Adell and into the corner. The two-base error allowed Garrett Cooper to score all the way from first base.
Sandoval threw all five of his pitches equitably. He got ahead in the count often enough with his fastball, sinker, curveball and slider to throw a changeup that generated five swings and four misses.
Jack Mayfield drew a four-pitch walk against Anthony Bender (0-1), getting a fortunate call on 3-and-0 from home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. Wade pinch ran, stole second base – the call was upheld after a video review – and advanced to third base on a wild pitch before scoring the game-winning run.
Angels closer Raisel Iglesias (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth inning in a non-save situation.
More to come on this story.
from Signage https://ift.tt/VTrcnxI
via Irvine Sign Company
