Angels climb back to .500
They complete 8-7 comeback win over Arizona for their fifth consecutive victory to get to 32-32.
PHOENIX — Angels manager Joe Maddon called it a mental hurdle, an all-important landmark in a season that is slowly starting to turn.
For the first time since May 2, the Angels climbed back to .500 on Saturday with an 8-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, improving to 32-32 after once being as many as eight games below .500 last month.
And much like their recent rebound, in which they’ve won a season-best five in a row and 13 of their last 18, they had to dig their way out of a deep early hole on Saturday too.
After starter Alex Cobb surrendered a five-spot in the third inning, each run scoring with two outs as the Diamondbacks (20-45) batted around, the Angels faced what seemed like an almost insurmountable 5-0 deficit.
But then they rallied, chipping away little by little — two runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth, another in the eighth to answer a Diamondbacks tally the halfinning before — before delivering the final blow by taking the lead in a three-run ninth inning.
“Down early, kept fighting back right up to the last inning,” Maddon said. “Everybody contributed again.”
Anthony Rendon did the most damage by going two for three with four RBIs, hitting his first home run in more than a month in the fourth inning and the gametying sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.
Justin Upton drew three walks as the leadoff hitter, while Max Stassi, Taylor Ward and José Igleisas each recorded two hits — including back-to-back ninth-inning
RBI doubles from Iglesias and Ward to score the winning runs.
José Suarez pitched four crucial innings of relief, giving up just one run to keep the lineup within striking distance. Alex Claudio was credited with the win after tossing a scoreless eighth. And closer Raisel Iglesias, despite giving up a solo home run in the ninth, got his 11th save.
Even the bench provided key contributions, from a pinch-hit RBI base hit by Phil Gosselin in the fourth to a single by Shohei Ohtani and run-scoring sacrifice bunt by Kean Wong in backto-back pinch-hit at-bats in the eighth.
The Angels now have an even record for the first time since they were 13-13.
“It’s an achievement, it’s a goal,” Maddon said. “You got to get there. The guys understand that. But they’re so pro about their work right now. I could not be more impressed with this group.”
Though this five-game
winning streak has come against softer competition — Saturday was the Diamondbacks’ ninth loss in a row — the Angels have also had to do it without the injured Mike Trout.
Compensating for his absence has been a teamwide effort, starting with improvements from a pitching staff that entered Saturday with the seventh-best team ERA (3.40) in June to a lineup that has benefited from Max Stassi’s return from injury, Upton’s consistency in the leadoff spot and Rendon’s steadily improving form at the plate.
“We’re missing some pieces right now and that’s difficult, but this is the style and method I envisioned for this group,” Maddon said. “This is what made us successful historically here. … There needs to be a grittiness about Angels teams. That’s how we made our mark.”
And though there are still 31⁄2 months to go this season, the last several weeks are providing the Angels with
confidence they hope to carry the rest of the way.
“The guys come in and you’re shaking their hands and it’s like business as usual, like they expected to do that,” Cobb said of Saturday’s atmosphere. “There’s nothing crazy in the clubhouse. We have our postgame celebration like we do every win. It’s just, the look on their face was like, ‘Yeah, we knew we were going to come back and win that game.’ ”
Despite trailing by one for most of the latter innings, it wasn’t until the ninth that the Angels finally went in front. The rally began with a leadoff double by Jared Walsh, followed by a single from Stassi and then Rendon’s sacrifice fly.
José Iglesias came up next and drove a double over Ketel Marte’s head in center field, the ball bouncing off the wall as Stassi raced all the way to break the 6-6 tie. Ward hit the next pitch down the third base line to score Iglesias and make it a tworun game.