Matt Duffy’s two-out single in the bottom of the 12th inning drove home Taylor Ward from second base to lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Duffy hit a full-count pitch from Astros reliever Seth Martinez into shallow right-center, where center fielder Mauricio Dubon made a diving attempt to catch the ball. A replay review confirmed that Dubon short-hopped the ball, giving the Angels the win.
Angels reliever Ryan Tepera (3-2) pitched a scoreless 12th inning to get the victory over Will Smith (0-2), who got the first two outs before issuing a walk and getting taken out in favor of Martinez.
Tepera and the Angels escaped a jam in the top of the 12th on a heads-up play by shortstop David Fletcher. The Astros had runners on first and third with no outs when David Hensley hit a chopper, Fletcher looked back the runner at third, and with the infield playing in, still had time to throw to second to start a double play.
Angels starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani and Astros starter Luis Garcia both pitched well, but the game ultimately was decided by the teams’ bullpens.
Ohtani gave up one run on six hits, striking out five and walking none in eight innings. Garcia gave up one run on three hits and two walks while striking out seven across seven innings.
Ohtani retired the first 10 Astros hitters of the game before Yuli Gurriel grounded a single to right field with one out in the fourth. Gurriel, though, was immediately erased when Alex Bregman grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Garcia was just as good, as the only Angels hitter to reach base against him through four innings was Fletcher, who doubled twice.
The Astros broke through in the fifth after Ohtani retired the first two batters of the inning. Trey Mancini doubled, then scored when Ohtani hung a 2-2 curveball to J.J. Matijevic, who blooped a single to left field to give Houston a 1-0 lead.
Garcia was able to hold the lead until the seventh. Luis Rengifo led off with a single and eventually scored on Ryan Aguilar’s sacrifice fly.
It was Aguilar’s first major league RBI in his fifth major league game.
–Field Level Media
