Late inning hitting help Los Angeles Angels to 6-5 win over Minnesota Twins - MLB Update
The Los Angeles Angels’ bat broke out in the eighth inning as the club took the series-opener 6-5 against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, on Friday night, May 27.
As soon as the Twins’ starter Scott Baker completed his seven innings without allowing any runs and the batters posted five vital runs on the board, the Angels’ struggling batting line-up woke up. Short-stop Erick Aybar, who was unable to exhibit any quality
shots in his first four at-bats, hit a splendid three-run homer off the Twins’ reliever Dusty Hughes in the eighth inning to nip the Angels’ scoreless game.
After the Twins’ manager, Ron Gardenhire replaced Hughes with Jim Hoey, the Angels’ Alberto Callaspo drove in an infield RBI single to trim the lead to 4-5. Then Russell Branyan hit a sacrifice fly to score a game tying run RBI single in the same inning.
It was a complete shock for the Twins’ fan when they saw Maicer Izturis hitting a leading run off Hoey in the top of the ninth inning. The spectators were still hoping but in the bottom half of the last inning, the Angels’ closer Jordan Walden threw impressive
pitching to secure a splendid win for his club.
The Angels’ starter Taylor Chatwood, who has given an early four-run lead until the fifth inning, was surprised to see such a striking retaliation from his relievers and batters. Chatwood tossed five innings, allowed four runs on eight hits, walked three
and got two strike-outs.
However, no reliever except Hisanori Takahashi and closer Walden gave even a hit to the Twins’ batting line-up. Relievers Kevin Jepsen and Fernando Rodney each threw less than a full inning while Scott Downs threw two thirds of an inning without yielding
any hit.
On the other hand, the Twins’ relievers got wayward and gave away five runs. Alex Burnett yielded two runs over eight pitches, Hughes scattered two runs over four pitches and Hoey went for two runs over one inning. Closer Phil Dumatrait tossed a perfect
ninth inning but remained winless.
Alexi Casilla hit an RBI single in the first inning to provide the Twins an early lead, while Jason Kubel made an RBI double in the fifth inning to take 4-0 lead. Then Justin Morneau scored an RBI single, the last run the Twins scored in the game, to take
a 5-0 lead. However, despite achieving this lead the Twins still managed to lose their 33rd game of the season, as the Angels put in a brilliant rally to come from behind.
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