Our short, regional nightmare is over. The Angels will not, in fact, go 0–162 this season.
Albert Pujols played the hero Thursday night, driving a belt-high fastball deep into the misty night to net the 19th walk-off hit of his career. The hit would have been a bases-clearing double in any other situation but it goes into the boxscore as a measly single, killing the hopes and dreams of countless fantasy teams.
Pujols wasn’t the only Angels bat to finally wake up. The team more than doubled their hit total for the season, thanks to multi-hit efforts from a trio of players and the first Halo homer of the year. The team also got its first quality start of the season, with Hector Santiago turning in 6+ innings of three-run ball.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1_gDi-Uev9_5dUbwYlyGetqKDrreer8WL8DTkM9eEAuw/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]It’s amazing what can happen when the team gets positive contributions from the top of the lineup. Yunel Escobar led the way with a solo shot, a single, and a walk, helping set the table for Craig Gentry and Pujols to come through at key moments. The Angels’ one-thru-five hitters went a combined 7-for-17 (.412) with two walks on the night, easily surpassing the team’s total offensive effort from the first two games of the year. Andrelton Simmons tallied his first hit as an Angel, a double, but had a killer GIDP in the eighth. Mike Trout finally got off the schneid as well, slapping two solid singles, but also struck out to end a rally in the fifth.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1_gDi-Uev9_5dUbwYlyGetqKDrreer8WL8DTkM9eEAuw/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Other than the hanging slider that Robinson Chirinos deposited into the left-field bleachers in the third, the Rangers did a whole lot of nothing with the bat Thursday. They added just three singles and two walks to that home run, finishing the night 0-for-3 with RISP. And the only reason they got even three runs was because of a throwing error and a balk. Delino DeShields, Prince Fielder, and Mitch Moreland each struck out twice.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1_gDi-Uev9_5dUbwYlyGetqKDrreer8WL8DTkM9eEAuw/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Santiago’s middling Game Score belies how well he pitched Thursday. The left-hander did a fantastic job of locating his fastball all night, netting 23 strikes looking overall (including five backwards K’s). Sure, a generous zone from Quinn Wolcott didn’t hurt, but Santiago doesn’t get those calls if he isn’t hitting Geovany Soto’s glove. If this Santiago can show up consistently, it’d be huge. Holland pitched kind of like a vintage Santiago, needing 95 pitches to get through five and struggling with two outs.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1_gDi-Uev9_5dUbwYlyGetqKDrreer8WL8DTkM9eEAuw/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]The Angels’ bullpen was strong for the first time this season, keeping the Rangers entirely off the bases in three innings of work. Fernando Salas gets a blown save for letting an inherited runner to score, but that’s pretty unfair considering all he did was allow a lazy fly ball and a pop out. Joe Smith and Huston Street remain perfect on the year.
The Texas bullpen loaded the bases two innings in a row, but didn’t pay for it until the second time, and even then the ERA damage was minimal—that Pujols hit should have been a bases-clearing double.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1_gDi-Uev9_5dUbwYlyGetqKDrreer8WL8DTkM9eEAuw/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] Hey, a game that wasn’t over before the fifth inning!Halo Hero
Pujols’ 19 walk-off hits since 2000 are tied with David Ortiz for the most in baseball over that span. Pretty good.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
