ANAHEIM, Calif. — The second game of the Angels homestand against the Toronto Blue Jays wasn’t pitcher Tyler Anderson’s best performance, but the Angels offense stepped up to the plate with home run blasts coming from Luis Rengifo, Mike Trout and Hunter Renfroe to lock in a 9-5 win.
After giving up two-run home runs to both Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman and a third home run to George Springer, Anderson left the game fairly early after 4 ⅔ IP. He finished with a 4.22 ERA, allowing 7 hits, 5 ER, 2 BB and 4 Ks.
Anderson said his outing tonight was “not great,” but the bullpen’s steady performance after he left made it possible for them to hold onto a win.
“You feel bad leaving the game that early and having the guys pick up that many innings, but for them to come in and shut it down is big time,” said Anderson.
Jaime Barría, Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup, José Quijada and Carlos Estévez kept the Blue Jays at 5 runs throughout the remainder of the game, providing the offense with plenty of room to put runs on the board — and that’s exactly what they did.
The Angels new celebratory home run hat – a Samurai helmet – was in high demand tonight.
A night of home runs was kicked off by Rengifo who sent a ball deep into left center field in the fifth inning, marking his first home run of the season. With Matt Thaiss and Taylor Ward on base, Trout followed suit with a 3-run homer that secured the Angels a 7-5 lead. His second home run of this homestand was a blast to left center field that landed in almost exactly the same spot that he hit to last night during the team’s home opener.
“Got in a good count, put a good swing on it,” said Trout. “I think the last few days, I’ve been seeing the ball better.”
Renfroe joined the home run club in the eighth with a 2-run blast that put the score at 9-5, a cushioned lead that the team held onto through the end of the game. It was Renfroe’s first home run as an Angel.
“Finally,” said Renfroe. “Finally, I actually hit one on the barrel, so it felt good. Get a little insurance run there was pretty big.”
Other crucial offensive plays of the night included an in-field triple hit by Gio Urshela, made possible by a fielding error from Bichette as well as a double from Shohei Ohtani and a RBI groundout from Anthony Rendon, who was back on the active roster for the first time after completing a four-game suspension. Adding to his home run, Renfroe also had an RBI to bring in Trout and Ohtani in the fourth inning.
Defensively, Taylor Ward kept things steady in left field with two sliding catches, and perhaps the more underrated story of the night was Thaiss’ defense behind home plate. He threw out a runner on second in the seventh inning, blocked a couple of tough pitches and made successful back-to-back pitch calls with two outs and two runners on base in the ninth.
“I thought he did a great job. He followed the plan well. He blocked a couple of really nice balls. The [guy he] caught stealing was a really big out for us,” said manager Phil Nevin.
Saturday night fireworks shone brightly over the Big A as the Angels walked away with their fifth victory of the season, leaving their overall record at 5-3.
