Angels rally with 3 in 9th, walk off on wild pitch vs. Indians
For the first time all season, the Los Angeles Angels won a game they trailed after eight innings. And it took a gritty effort against one of the most consistent closers to get it done after 44 such failures.
C.J. Cron hit a tying two-run single with two out and the bases loaded in the ninth inning against Cleveland's Cody Allen and pinch-runner Taylor Featherston scored on a wild pitch, giving the Angels a 4-3 victory over the Indians on Wednesday.
"You've got to win these kind of series," Cron said. "We did a great job in the ninth, getting them loaded and being able to score three there against a good pitcher. I came up with two outs and I wanted to get the job done. They were kind of pounding me away all day, so I was trying not to do too much. Thankfully, it found the barrel, put a good swing on it and it got down."
Allen (1-4), coming in to protect a 3-1 lead for Danny Salazar, was charged with his third blown save in 25 chances after giving up a one-out single to Albert Pujols and two-out walks to Erick Aybar and Conor Gillaspie. Cron lined an 0-1 pitch to center to tie it, and Allen uncorked his fourth wild pitch of the season and second of the inning with pinch-hitter David DeJesus at the plate.
Cam Bedrosian (1-0), the son of 1987 Cy Young Award-winning closer Steve Bedrosian, pitched a perfect ninth for his first career victory — less than 24 hours after giving up a deciding two-run homer in the 12th inning to Giovanny Urshela. Bedrosian knows his dad saw the end of the game, because he sent him proof — a photo that was taken at his other son's house in Newnan, Ga., holding up an index finger.
"It's huge. It means a lot," said Bedrosian, who has been bouncing between the minors and the big club since he joined the organization in 2010. "I always told myself to persevere. There's going to be bad times, and I've been through them before. So it's not the first time. Hopefully it's a long road ahead. They keep giving me these chances, and I'm happy I could contribute to the team and help these guys out today."
Jose Ramirez and Ryan Raburn hit leadoff homers in the sixth and seventh innings against Angels first-time All-Star Hector Santiago, who allowed three runs and five hits in six-plus innings and struck out seven.
"I made two bad pitches which were actually good pitches, but they're bad pitches because they went over the wall," Santiago said.
Salazar allowed a run and three hits, struck out seven and walked two. The right-hander hasn't won consecutive starts since beating Minnesota, Detroit and Kansas City in his first three outings of the season. On Friday, he yielded an unearned run and one hit through eight innings and retired his last 18 batters in a 2-1 victory at Oakland.
Ramirez, recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Monday when Jason Kipnis went on the disabled list, gave the Indians a 2-1 lead with his homer into the left-field bullpen. It was the fourth home run in 411 big-league at-bats to that point for the switch-hitting second baseman, and his second for the Tribe this season. The other one was on April 9 at Houston.
Raburn, inserted into the starting lineup for the first time since July 26 as the designated hitter, chased Santiago with his fifth homer on the left-hander's 99th pitch.
Cleveland had runners at the corners with none out in the first when rookie Francisco Lindor got picked off first base by catcher Chris Iannetta. Ramirez was stranded at third, but the Indians got on the board in the fourth on Raburn's two-out single after Lindor led off the inning with a double.
The defending AL West champion Angels, held to one hit through nine innings by Carlos Carrasco and just two altogether in a 12-inning 2-0 loss on Tuesday night, didn't get their first hit against Salazar until Kole Calhoun led off the fourth by driving a 1-1 pitch an estimated 415 feet over the trees in center field to tie the score.
"He was throwing his fastball for strikes and using that good tailing action to catch the outside corner all day," Cron said. "When pitchers are putting the ball on the black like that, it's tough to hit. He kept us off-balance a lot and used a lot of heaters, but he threw enough off-speed pitches to keep us on our toes."
It was the 15th homer and career-high 59th RBI for Calhoun, who was robbed of a home run by center fielder Michael Bourn on Monday night.
UP NEXT
Indians: Rookie RHP Cody Anderson (2-3) gets the assignment Friday night for the opener of a three-game series against Minnesota at Progressive Field. He is 0-2 with an 8.40 ERA in his last three starts, getting the decision in a 5-1 loss at Oakland on Saturday.
Angels: LHP Andrew Heaney (5-1) will start the opener of a three-game set against Baltimore at the "Big A" on Friday night. He was named AL Rookie of the Month for July after going 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA in four starts, and has not allowed more than two runs in any of his seven outings.
