Luis Rengifo’s two-out, two-run double capped a five-run eighth inning to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 9-7 comeback victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
The Angels trailed 7-4 going into the bottom of the eighth but rallied against the Rangers’ bullpen with three walks and three hits. David Fletcher got the Angels to within 7-6 with a two-run double.
After an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani and a walk to Taylor Ward, Rangers reliever Brett Martin threw a wild pitch, allowing Fletcher to score and tie the game at 7-7.
That’s when Rengifo came through with a two-run double to the right-center field gap, completing the rally.
Angels reliever Touki Toussaint (1-0), in his first appearance with Los Angeles this season, gave up two runs over four innings in relief of starter Chase Silseth to get the victory.
Martin (0-7) took the loss.
The Rangers threatened in the ninth, putting the potential tying runs in scoring position with two out, but Raisel Iglesias retired Adolis Garcia on a fly ball to deep center to earn his 16th save.
The Rangers took the lead in the top of the third inning. Elier Hernandez led off with a walk. Silseth was able to retire the next two hitters but gave up a walk to Jonah Heim, setting up back-to-back RBI singles by Nathaniel Lowe and Garcia to put Texas up 2-0.
The Angels responded in the bottom of the third against Rangers starter Glenn Otto, who hit Phil Gosselin with a pitch to begin the inning. Gosselin had to leave the game and Fletcher entered the game as a pinch runner.
After Andrew Velazquez bunted for a single, Ohtani launched a three-run homer to put the Angels on top 3-2.
The lead only lasted until the top of the fourth when the Rangers got a three-run homer of their own, coming off the bat of Marcus Semien. Silseth walked Josh H. Smith and Meibrys Viloria before Semien got ahold of an 84-mph splitter on a 2-1 pitch, hitting it over the fence in center for a 5-3 Rangers lead.
The Angels got to within 5-4 on Max Stassi’s RBI single in the fifth, but a two-run homer by Viloria in the top of the sixth gave Texas a 7-4 advantage.
–Field Level Media
