If you put enough people on base, eventually good things are bound to happen. Sometimes those good things are dingers, sometimes they’re broken-bat singles, and other times they’re seeing-eye hits. The Angels got a whole lot of the latter Wednesday night, including a particularly fun stretch in the fifth inning that resulted in four runs:
On another night, that might have been three easy outs. Instead, on Wednesday it allowed the Angels to break the game wide open. That’s not to say that the win was cheap—none of those gift runs would have been possible had the offense not put itself in position to score, so the team deserves a lot of credit for its 12 hits and five walks—just that baseball is as unpredictable as ever.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v65Fm0e1xtssn868msIyznWPTIWHEzm_0ydNbw-fWxM/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]Rafael Ortega leads the way in RE24 thanks to a bloop double, a single, and a stolen base. Real nice to have him back in the lineup. Mike Trout also had a huge day at the plate, blasting his ninth homer, singling twice, and walking once. Albert Pujols reached base four times as well, tallying his 2,700th career hit in the sixth. He’s hitting .364/.432/.545 in his last eight games. Every starter but Carlos Perez and Brendan Ryan had at least one hit.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v65Fm0e1xtssn868msIyznWPTIWHEzm_0ydNbw-fWxM/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Joc Pederson tormented the Angels for the second straight night, though a double, an RBI single and a walk are far less damaging than two dingers. The rest of the team had ample opportunities with runners on, but couldn’t come through. Justin Turner, Trayce Thompson, and Enrique Hernandez all left at least four runners on each, combining to go 0-for-9 on the evening.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v65Fm0e1xtssn868msIyznWPTIWHEzm_0ydNbw-fWxM/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Nick Tropeano finally got the sixth-inning monkey off his back. And the right-hander felt so good about getting into quality start territory for the first time in eight starts that he went out and pitched the seventh as well. He was fortunate on a couple occasions, but ultimately pitched very well.
Mike Bolsinger demonstrated Wednesday why the Dodgers chose to go with Ross Stripling over him for the first month-plus of the season. He missed few bats and got knocked around ceaselessly in his 4.1 IP, not once working a clean inning.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v65Fm0e1xtssn868msIyznWPTIWHEzm_0ydNbw-fWxM/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Cam Bedrosian and A.J. Achter worked the final two, very low-leverage innings and actually managed to hold the lead where it was for the first time in days.
Louis Coleman had the misfortune of being the guy on the mound when the Angels got their four gimme runs in the fifth. Adam Libertore didn’t help things in the sixth, allowing two runs on three hits.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v65Fm0e1xtssn868msIyznWPTIWHEzm_0ydNbw-fWxM/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]Thanks to the aforementioned hits with eyes, the Angels put the game away in the fifth.
Halo Hero
Mike Trout had yet another great game at the plate, but I’ve gotta give this one to Tropeano. Seven innings! Wheee!
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