Against all odds, the Angels live to play another day. Jered Weaver came into Friday night’s contest with a 6.33 ERA in 13 road starts this season and a 4.70 ERA in 19 career starts in Arlington. So of course he threw six innings of one-run ball, keeping the Rangers from the division title for at least one more night.
The Halos’ offense didn’t fare much better than the Rangers’ but they got the big hits when it counted, going 2-for-4 with RISP on the evening. Mike Trout again came through when the team needed him most and is now hitting .304/.421/.639 in September, making the ongoing MVP debate just that much tougher.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11OKSnAQsT68Kf9Iq_1nIV7CiZWCqrEAMr_5qz2efmJQ/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]All the offense came from four guys: Erick Aybar, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and C.J. Cron. Literally no one else reached base, not even on a fielder’s choice, and Cron never reached again after the first inning. Still not sure how the Angels won this game.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11OKSnAQsT68Kf9Iq_1nIV7CiZWCqrEAMr_5qz2efmJQ/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]The Rangers were even quieter at the plate than the Angels. Shin-Soo Choo had two of the team’s three hits, both going for extra bases (HR & 2B). The rest of the lineup did squat other than draw a few walks and reach on a pair of errors from Aybar. They ended up 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11OKSnAQsT68Kf9Iq_1nIV7CiZWCqrEAMr_5qz2efmJQ/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Of all the things this game could have been, a pitcher’ duel was probably the least likely. But Jered Weaver really bore down when the Angels needed him the most, putting together easily his best road start of the second half. Martin Perez matched Weaver nearly pitch for pitch, keeping the Angels off the bases almost entirely after a shaky first.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11OKSnAQsT68Kf9Iq_1nIV7CiZWCqrEAMr_5qz2efmJQ/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Trevor Gott, Jose Alvarez, Mike Morin, and Joe Smith combined for three innings of one-hit baseball, sealing yet another one-run victory. On the other side, Shawn Tolleson never stood a chance one Mike Trout hit that ball in the gap. Anyone else might have been stopped at second, but Trout isn’t anyone.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11OKSnAQsT68Kf9Iq_1nIV7CiZWCqrEAMr_5qz2efmJQ/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]When your mom asks you why the boxes of both the Wheat Thins and Cheez-its she just bought are gone, just show her this graph. She’ll understand.
Halo Hero
With Weaver on the mound in Arlington, I didn’t think the Angels had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning this game. Happy to be made look foolish.
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