ALL-STAR POWER
Homers by Walsh (twice), Ohtani lift Angels to home victory over Red Sox
The two Angels players who will participate in the AllStar Game next week held a private Home Run Derby at Angel Stadium.
Shohei Ohtani and Jared Walsh hit back-to-back homers to give the Angels the lead in the fifth inning and then Walsh hit a second homer that provided the decisive run in the Angels’ 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon.
While much of the Angels’ recent improvement has come at the expense of teams at the bottom of the standings, the Angels took two of three from the AL East-leading Red
Sox and improved to 44-42, getting to two games over .500 for the first time since April.
“It’s good stuff,” manager Joe Maddon said. “We’ve been playing a lot better against good teams, but we have to prove it by winning . ... These are the things you have to prove to yourself as a group.”
The game also included David Fletcher collecting two more hits and running his hitting streak to 21 games. It’s the longest hitting streak for the Angels since Garret Anderson had a 23-game streak in 2008.
Fletcher also matched Nick Castellanos of the Cincinnati Reds for
the longest hitting streak in the majors this season.
Walsh and Ohtani, however, delivered the biggest hits.
Ohtani, who was back in the lineup the day after throwing 89 pitches, helped spark the Angels to a two-run first inning with a bloop single.
The score was tied when he came to the plate in the fifth. Ohtani fouled balls off his ankle and knee during his matchup with Eduardo Rodriguez, each time limping around the plate in pain.
He then blasted a 433foot homer into the rightfield seats, putting the Angels back on top.
“That’s how tough he is,” Maddon said. “He didn’t call out for a trainer. There’s nothing you can do. He stayed in there, got himself right and hit a homer.”
Ohtani’s 32nd homer broke Hideki Matsui’s record for homers in a single season by a player born in Japan. Matsui hit 31 homers with the New York Yankees in 2004.
“He’s someone I watched growing up as a child, so it’s a huge honor to pass what he did,” Ohtani said through his interpreter.
Moments later Walsh drilled a homer to straightaway center. It was Walsh’s 21st homer of the season and his first since his dramatic ninth-inning grand slam against Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman last week in New York.
He didn’t have to wait as long to get to No. 22, launching a drive down the right field line two innings later to extend the Angels’ lead to 5-3.
That was just enough of a cushion for the Angels’ bullpen.
Mike Mayers allowed a run in the eighth — after a leadoff triple when right fielder Luis Rengifo lost a ball in the sun. Closer Raisel Iglesias worked a scoreless ninth to save the victory for Andrew Heaney.
Heaney cruised through the first three innings without allowing a hit and facing the minimum nine hitters, but the Red Sox began to work him in the fourth.
J.D. Martinez saw 10 pitches from Heaney in drawing a walk, and then Xander Bogaerts singled. Heaney escaped the inning, but he needed 24 pitches to do so. In the fifth, he gave up two runs on four hits, throwing another 29 pitches.
Heaney gave up a leadoff double to Bogaerts in the sixth, then retired Rafael Devers and was pulled. Bogaerts came around to score on a single against Steve Cishek, tagging Heaney with three earned runs in 5-1/3 innings.
“That’s a tough lineup,” Heaney said. “Those guys grind out at-bats. Just trying to keep them from putting up crooked numbers. Obviously, I gave up the two in the fifth, but it’s a good team. I’m happy to keep us in the game. And then we’ve been getting some timely hits, obviously Shohei and Walshy swinging the bat really well and then Mayers and Iggy closing it down, and Cishek. Those guys have been doing a great job.”