The Angels tried so hard to follow the script we have seen so many times this year. The Angels get out to a solid early lead. The starting pitcher gets in trouble, the bullpen does a poor job of bailing him out, then slowly bleeds away the rest of the lead until the Angels end up with another soul-crushing loss. Fortunately, somewhere along the way, they decided to go off script and managed to not choke. I could get used to that.
Run Expectancy Rundown
Howie Kendrick in the lead-off role worked like a charm. Erick Aybar and Chris Iannetta picked up the rest of the lineup, especially Albert Pujols. David Freese had another multi-hit game and yet, once again, was a big negative in the RE24.
Once again, it was Carlos Santana with the big blow. Cleveland should send the Angels a fruit basket for helping get Santana out of his season-long slump. Strangely, Jason Kipnis getting hurt was a negative for the Halos as Mike Aviles came in and did some damage.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Jered Weaver got off to a strong start, but just fell apart in the sixth inning. Corey Kluber got knocked around pretty good and was actually lucky that his line ended up being as good as it was.
Bullpen Battle
So many relievers. From both sides, just relievers everywhere. The Cleveland relievers were nice enough to keep coughing up insurance runs, which was good because the odd decision to have Yoslan Herrera start the seventh and then try and have Nick Maronde bail him out went about as well as could be expected. Fortunately, Michael Kohn was able to save Weaver in the sixth and then Jepsen saved Scioscia in the seventh. Somehow all of this happened and Mike Morin never got to pitch, but that is a whole different story.
Game Flow
The Angels went up early in this one but kept trying to give the game away. They actually had a 94% win expectancy after Kendrick’s two-run single in the fifth, but saw that drop down to 55% for e brief moment after Maronde walked in a run in the seventh. Fortunately, they were able to save victory from the jaws of defeat.
Halo Hero
This is hard to believe, I know, but Kevin Jepsen was the hero of this game. The Bullpen of Perpetual Sorrow was all set to blow this game, but Jepsen came in and rescued them from yet another blown save. Sure, Giambi’s flyout was a scary moment, but it got caught and the Angels avoided another game being given away.
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