Rengifo drives in two, and one out
Infielder’s big at-bats include KO of pitcher
ANAHEIM » Luis Rengifo drove in two of the Angels’ five runs against the Oakland A’s on Saturday, sending a home run over the left-field fence in the fifth inning, and dropping a textbook Baltimore Chop with the bases loaded in the sixth.
Rengifo also made an out in his first at-bat of the night, a line drive back to pitcher Frankie Montas, that made an impact far beyond the box score. The ball caught Montas’ hand and knocked him out of the game, a critical event in an eventual 5-3 victory at Angel Stadium.
Michael Lorenzen threw six shutout innings, and Andrew Velazquez also homered, as the Angels snapped a four-game losing streak before the announced crowd of 39,045.
Mike Trout was the beneficiary of Rengifo’s high chopper off the plate that eventually landed in the glove of pitcher Lou Trivino. While no one covered first base to retire Rengifo, Trout casually sprinted in from third to score the 1,000th run of his career.
The Angels had not won since leaving Oakland on May 15. They had to survive a late rally by the A’s, who scored three runs in the eighth inning against relievers Aaron Loup and Oliver Ortega. Raisel Iglesias pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his ninth save of the season.
Rengifo’s line drive back to the mound in the second inning — clocked at 95 mph,