Angels sweep with some late-inning magic
They extend their winning streak to five games thanks to some timely hitting in another win over Astros.
On a 106-degree afternoon that was scorching enough to trigger a hallucination, the Angels swear this wasn’t a mirage. They completed a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros with a 9-5 comefrom-behind victory in Angel Stadium on Sunday, and a vision of the playoffs appeared, though way off in the distance.
Their odds of making the postseason are still as long as the 461foot home run Houston shortstop Carlos Correa crushed on Sunday, but they’re a lot better than they were five days ago, when an 11-4 loss to San Diego buried them nine games out of a playoff spot.
Since then, the Angels have won five straight — erasing three-run deficits in each of their last three wins over the defending American League-champion Astros — to improve to 17-25 and move within five games of Houston (21-19) for second place.
The top two teams in each division and the two other clubs with the best records earn spots in an expanded 16-team playoff field. With Chicago (26-15), Cleveland (25-16) and Minnesota (25-17) looking like locks in the AL Central, the Angels would have to leapfrog Seattle in the AL West and either overtake Houston or the thirdplace team in the East, now New York (21-19).
The biggest hurdle for the Angels: They have only 18 games left in the 60-game season and none against the Astros.
“Of course, we do,” manager Joe Maddon said when asked if there’s enough time to make a playoff run. “What I’m seeing more recently is a higher level of competing on our guys’ part. I’m not denigrating what happened before; it’s just that we’re tuned in a little bit better.”
Maddon said a series such as this, with hard-fought wins over a quality opponent, can spark an extended roll. The Angels swept Saturday’s doubleheader with a pair of three-run, seventh-inning rallies. They broke open a tie game Sunday with four eighth-inning runs.
“You win four games 17-3 or 15-8, it’s not like that,” Maddon said. “You’ve got to win games like this to really earn the right to move to the next level. Because when you’re playing a good team, and you get in tight games, you have to believe you’re gonna win. … We’re not there yet, but I see us trending in that direction.”
Sunday’s win was built with solid starting pitching and a smallball approach that is finally being embraced by an offense that has scored 100 of its 209 runs (48%) on homers.
Three straight singles by Max Stassi, Jared Walsh and Taylor Ward netted a run in the second. Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer to left-center field in the third, and the Angels added a run in the inning on a Jo Adell double, a wild pitch and a Walsh sacrifice fly.
Ward tripled and scored on Franklin Barreto’s two-out single in the sixth, and the eighth-inning rally started with singles by Adell, Stassi and Walsh, who chopped a hard grounder over first baseman
Yuli Gurriel’s head for a 6-5 lead.
Houston manager Dusty Baker pulled starter Framber Valdez for right-hander Chris Devenski, who walked Ward to load the bases. Devenski got ahead of Luis Rengifo with two quick strikes.
But Rengifo, who replaced the injured Barreto in the sixth inning despite being scratched from Sunday’s lineup because of a left thumb sprain, drew a walk to force Stassi home for a 7-5 lead. Andrelton Simmons popped out to third, but Justin Upton ripped a two-run double to left for a 9-5 lead.
“I’ve noticed a lot of full, 100% effort swings, and honestly, I fall in line with that too,” Ward said. “So, kind of dialing that back as an offense will be better for us in those situations, not relying on the long ball and letting a single do the job.”
Angels right-hander Jaime Barria allowed three runs and three hits, including homers by Kyle Tucker and Aledmys Diaz, to the first six batters before retiring 12 of the next 13.
“It’s not always going to be an oil painting, so you have to settle down,” Maddon said of Barria’s rocky start.