Angels hold on, win their reopener
Two-way star throws solid six innings and slugger hits first grand slam as 30,709 cheer at Angel Stadium.
Ohtani, Ward star against Detroit before 30,709 at Anaheim.
ANGELS 7, DETROIT 5
Every roar was a little louder, every gasp a little more intense.
And when the evening reached a peak, Angel Stadium sounded like normal again.
For the first time since 2019, there were no capacity limits at the Angels’ home ballpark on Thursday. And on what became a de facto “reopening day” game, Shohei Ohtani greeted the 30,709 in attendance with another two-way treat before Taylor Ward provided a raucous exclamation point in the seventh inning with his first grand slam.
“There was definitely a higher level of energy in the ballpark today,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “It was only because of the fans.”
The Angels went on to win 7-5 against the Detroit Tigers, taking the first of a four-game series that is representing the greatest return to normality at their home stadium yet.
The last season and a half had been played under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, barring fans from entry last year, then limiting capacity to 33% for the first 34 home dates of this campaign.
But on Thursday, the Angels’ first home game following California’s lifting of pandemic limitations two days earlier, the sea of once empty seats disappeared. The once muffled reactions of sparsely populated stands were gone.
Instead, the venue’s biggest crowd in 627 days had plenty to cheer, the Angels (34-35) bouncing back from a three-game sweep at the hands of the Oakland Athletics earlier this week behind big games from Ohtani and Ward.
Ohtani shined early on, walking twice as a batter and giving up only one run in six innings on the mound.
He overcame some early command issues by mixing in a seasonhigh proportion of sliders.
He not only lowered his season ERA to 2.70 but also produced his third six-inning outing in his last four starts.
Ohtani probably could have pitched deeper into the evening too, his only run coming on a solo home run in the sixth inning that cut a two-run Angels lead in half.
However, even with Ohtani only at 78 pitches, Maddon instead turned to his bullpen to begin the seventh, summoning Tony Watson to protect the one-run advantage.
“I thought that was a pretty significant day’s work for him,” Maddon said of removing Ohtani. “It is still June, and I want this guy to have one of the greatest seasons ever. So you don’t want to jeopardize his overall health.”
Watson, who a day earlier had given up a career-high six earned runs without recording an out, barely kept the lead intact, stranding a runner at third in an inning that included a leadoff double and wacky six-throw rundown between third base and home plate.
A half-inning later, Ward broke the game open.
After the first four batters in the bottom of the seventh reached base, including an RBI single from José Iglesias, Ward unloaded the bases with a grand slam to left-center, the ball bouncing out of sight as the stadium’s decibel level spiked to pre-pandemic heights.
“It’s one of those moments you never want to end,” Ward said.
There were nervy sequences down the stretch. In the eighth, reliever Mike Mayers surrendered one run before turning a basesloaded and no-out jam over to closer Raisel Iglesias, who let two of the inherited runners score.
The Tigers (29-40) scored again in the ninth before Iglesias completed the six-out save, pointing to the sky in celebration as the restriction-less crowd came to life one last time.
“It’s definitely something we had been missing for a bit,” Maddon said.
“I just want the fans to know that.”