Angels walk 10 as Twins win division
The Angels allowed the Minnesota Twins to walk into the postseason.
Three Angels pitchers combined to issue 10 walks — including two with the bases loaded — in an 8-6 loss to the Twins on Friday night, setting off a celebration as the Twins clinched the American League Central title.
Manager Phil Nevin said it was good for his young players to watch the Twins celebrate.
“I want them to see that, absolutely,” Nevin said. “That’s where we want to be, where we expect to be, and I think we have that good young core to get there.”
In the meantime, the Angels are simply trying to get whatever nuggets of positive experience they can out of these last games before the season ends, eight games from now.
They’ll take solace in the quality at-bats that produced a run and loaded the bases against Twins closer Jhoan Duran before it ended, or the tworun homers from Logan O’hoppe and Jared Walsh.
But they also saw opener José Suarez and a rookie pitchers Davis Daniel and Jhonathan Diaz combine to hand the Twins 10 baserunners.
“It’s a learning experience for all of them,” Nevin said. “When Suarez got in a little trouble in the second, that run was a walk. Davis really threw the ball well, except for the fourth inning. Just lost command for a little bit. Other than that, I thought he threw the ball very well. And then with Jhonathan it’s the same thing. He’s got to throw the ball over the plate.”
The Angels used the patchwork pitching plan because Tyler Anderson had some knee trouble, so his start was pushed back
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Suarez picked up the first five outs, allowing one run. Daniel then allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings, two of them coming during one bout of wildness. Daniel issued four walks in the fourth inning, including one with the bases loaded. After he settled down, he allowed just an Alex Kirilloff solo homer in the sixth inning.
Kirilloff’s home run snapped a tie, and then the Twins broke the game open with four runs in the seventh. The floodgates were opened when second baseman David Fletcher made an error and Diaz walked three of the next four hitters.
The Angels’ offense mostly came on homers. O’hoppe hit his 11th. Walsh has hit three homers in the week since he’s been back from Triple-a. Overall, he’s 5 for 24 with 13 strikeouts and no walks since he returned.
The Angels also scored on an RBI single from Nolan Schanuel. He’s now reached with a hit or walk in the first 25 games of his big-league career, extending his Angels record and moving alone into sixth on the all-time major-league list for the start of a career. The record is 47, so Schanuel doesn’t have enough games left to get there this season.
With the Angels down by three in the ninth, Michael Stefanic singled to drive in one. The Angels had the bases loaded with two outs, but Brandon Drury grounded out to end it, setting off the Twins’ celebration.
“Obviously you want to you want to be doing that at some point in your career,” Daniel said. “A lot of hard work and stuff goes into that. Hopefully, we’ll be there soon.”