ANAHEIM — It was a wild game decided by a check swing with an exit velocity of just 18.9 mph, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of two crazy plays on balls that left the bat at only 67 mph.
Logan O’Hoppe ultimately was the hero, as he walked it off on a tapper 15 feet in front of home plate to lift the Angels to an unlikely 7-6 win over the Orioles in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon at Angel Stadium. It scored Nolan Schanuel, who had reached on a run-scoring error with two outs on a weak grounder to second base with an exit velocity of 67 mph.
Schanuel went all the way to third on the error, a missed catch by reliever Keegan Akin while covering first base on the throw from second baseman Jeremiah Jackson, which allowed him to score on O’Hoppe’s slow roller to catcher Samuel Basallo.
“It was wild,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “I feel like we were in the game the whole time. The bullpen did an unbelievable job keeping us right there and the guys just kept battling. And then we came through in the end.”
The offense looked dormant most of the afternoon after Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer in the first but they overcame a three-run deficit in the eighth, with Wade Meckler coming through with a game-tying two-run single with two outs.
It set up the rally in the 10th inning and O’Hoppe was pleased to come through when it mattered the most, even if it came on a check swing on a pitch out of the zone.
“It’s a baseball play,” O’Hoppe said. “It’s just one of those freak plays where it worked out. I worked in the cage the whole game to try to see the ball better. And then I hit a pitch out of the zone but it worked out for us.”
It was the second unusual play in the inning after Schanuel reached on what looked to be a game-ending grounder to second. But Pete Alonso and Akin both broke late to cover first base, and Schanuel reached on an error while inadvertently kicking the ball down the line to reach third base.
“It looked like a tweener, where it looked like Pete kind of broke and then stopped and then turned around and ran back, and Akin got to the bag at the same time and nobody knew who was going to get it,” Suzuki said. “And Schanny kicked it and went all the way through, so definitely a weird, weird ending.”
But the comeback wouldn’t have been possible without a great defensive play by right-handed reliever Chase Silseth in the 10th inning. Gunnar Henderson hit a slow chopper with an exit velocity of 67 mph near home with Blaze Alexander trying to score from third, but Silseth flipped the ball home to O’Hoppe with his glove to get a critical first out. He gave up a two-out RBI single to Alonso, but it was the only damage he allowed.
Silseth said it’s a play they work on during Spring Training, and he saw that O’Hoppe signaled to him to throw to first but didn’t think he had much of a play there, so he took a chance at home.
“I figured I probably was not going to get him at first so just might as well go for it,” Silseth said. “We work on it in Spring Training with the glove flips going to home. So it paid off.”
It also helped make up for right-hander José Soriano continuing his recent struggles. Through the first month of the season, Soriano looked like he was emerging as one of baseball’s best starting pitchers, but he has had trouble building on that success.
The right-hander headed into May with a 0.84 ERA through his first seven starts but he’s scuffled over his last 10 outings, including Wednesday’s three-inning clunker against the Orioles. After allowing five runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts, Soriano has posted a 5.50 ERA with 53 strikeouts and 32 walks in 52 1/3 innings over his last 10 starts.
But relievers Mitch Farris, José Fermin, Samy Natera Jr. and Sam Bachman combined to throw six scoreless innings to give the Angels a chance.
“I feel good but I just can’t make as many mistakes as I did today,” Soriano said. “When you miss with pitches over the middle, that’s going to happen. But overall, I feel good.”
Source link
