Angels end a skid in spectacular style
Briceno blasts walk-off homer in 11th to snap losing streak and bail out reliever Buttrey.
ANGELS 5, TEXAS 4
On a night when Shohei Ohtani enhanced the star quality of his rookie year in his first at-bat of the game, and Felix Pena hurled seven quality innings, it was pinchhitter Jose Briceno’s leadoff heroics that snapped the Angels’ five-game losing streak and gave them their sixth walk-off win of the season.
Briceno launched Texas Rangers reliever Matt Moore’s third pitch of the 11th inning over the centerfield wall for a game-winning homer and a 5-4 victory Monday night at Angel Stadium. Baby powder was thrown at him at home plate. A bucket of ice was dumped over his head during his postgame interview.
All of that in the wake of rookie reliever Ty Buttrey’s blown save in the ninth inning, which seemed like it might portend doom for the Angels again.
Ohtani had knocked a first-pitch homer off Rangers starter Adrian Sampson in the first inning. It arced high, reaching a peak of 146 feet according to MLB’s Statcast system, before landing in the seats in rightcenter. Lasers in the ballpark measured the exit velocity of the home run at 112.9 mph — the hardest-hit ball of Ohtani’s campaign.
But the home run’s majesty went for naught. So did solo shots Sampson surrendered to Jefry Marte and rookie Michael Hermosillo, who launched the first home run of his career and logged his fifth hit since joining the Angels roster as a September call-up. Even the run Marte scored when reliever Connor Sadzeck’s pitch to Hermosillo in the sixth dribbled toward the backstop to give the Angels a 4-3 lead meant little.
Because for the second time in two outings, Buttrey could not hold a lead. He gave up a two-out double to Ronald Guzman in the ninth. Pinch hitter Elvis Andrus then laced a single up the left side of the infield, giving pinch-runner Delino DeShields enough time to score from second base. The Angels contended DeShields missed the bag as he rounded third and called for a replay. Umpires upheld the call on the field.
In his last outing on Saturday, Buttrey was charged with five runs in a loss to Houston after entering in the eighth inning with a 5-1 advantage. For the first time in his short major-league career, which began on Aug. 16, he wasn’t able to record an out. He’d allowed only one earned run and held batters to a .185 batting average in first 14 games.
His last two opponents have not been set down as effortlessly. But Buttrey’s teammates did the rest as the Angels improved to 76-81. Should they win their final five games, the Angels would avoid a third losing season in a row.
Scioscia doubles down … sort of
In the weeks since rumors surfaced of his impending retirement, Mike Scioscia has spent little time publicly discussing his intentions beyond the end of this Angels season, which coincides with the expiration of the 10-year contract he signed in 2009.
He’s waved off attempts to reminisce about his career. He’s talked often about the 2019 Angels and his enthusiasm for seeing what Ohtani might accomplish in 2020, when the two-way star is expected to return to the mound as a starting pitcher after repairing the damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
But when asked on KLAA’s pregame radio show if he still loves managing, Scioscia broke his silence to tell Terry Smith he would like to remain at the helm if given the chance.
Scioscia, who turns 60 in November, has been in professional baseball for some 40 years. After 19 seasons managing the Angels, he will have earned the right to negotiate a new contract. It’s just a matter of if he really wants one.
“We’ll continue to evaluate things this week,” he said. “I’ll speak with [owner Arte Moreno] and speak with [general manager Billy Eppler] and kind of come to a decision. I think that if you love something, you want to continue to keep doing it. And if you can, great. And if it doesn’t happen, so be it.”
Simmons MRI clean
The Angels went without reigning Gold Glove winner Andrelton Simmons at shortstop, after Simmons landed awkwardly on his right knee while making a defensive play in the seventh inning of Sunday’s loss.
Scioscia said Simmons underwent an MRI and received a clean bill of health.
Simmons, who’s played in 142 games this season, is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday.