Angels eke out ugly walk-off win against Marlins
The Angels won a game they had little business winning Tuesday afternoon.
They struck out 15 times and issued seven walks, they misplayed a routine single for a run-scoring error, they had the potential go-ahead run picked off first base in the eighth inning, and they still beat the Miami Marlins 4-3 before a crowd of 16,132 in Angel Stadium.
They eked out a walk-off win because Anthony Rendon hit a 358-foot fly ball that only a fan could catch, Jack Mayfield took a 3-and-0 strike for ball four in the ninth, a controversial ninth-inning replay review went their way, and Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas couldn’t field Max Stassi’s decisive ground ball cleanly.
They also won because Tyler Wade is fast. Really fast.
“I’ll take it,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said, when asked if this was the definition of winning ugly. “I’ll take it every night, right?”
The score was tied 3-3 with one out in the bottom of the ninth when Mayfield took a 3-and-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Bender for ball four that was inside the K-zone box. A surprised Mayfield looked back at home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez as if to say, “Really? OK.”
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The speedy Wade, who was successful on 30 of 38 stolen-base attempts in five years with the New York Yankees, came on to run for Mayfield and took off for second on Bender’s first pitch to Stassi, a 95-mph sinker.
Wade beat the tag of second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a head-first slide, but he overshot the bag, his left hand and back foot coming off the base at about the same time. Wade was called safe. The Marlins challenged. “The call stands,” the umpires announced. Miami manager Don Mattingly fumed.
“One hundred percent,” Mattingly said, when asked if Wade was out. “I don’t even know how they come up with ‘safe’ there. But it’s back to the same old thing with the replay. ‘Stands’ is the worst thing they can do. ‘Stands’ is a cop-out call, and it’s really frustrating when you see a guy’s hand off the base, he doesn’t have his toe [on it], Jazz’s foot is in between. I don’t understand.”
What did Maddon think after watching the replay?
“Ask New York,” he said with a grin.
Wade took third on a wild pitch. The Marlins brought their infield in. Stassi hit a sharp grounder that ran up the left arm of Rojas, allowing Wade, who was running with contact, to score easily.
The Angels poured onto the field to celebrate a win that pushed them to 3-3 on their season-opening homestand.
“Stassi did a good job right there, putting the ball in play against a tough pitcher,” Wade. “That guy’s got good stuff.”
Wade’s speed keyed the rally.
“I did my research before — I knew what Bender had, what times he had [to the plate] and what tendencies he had,” Wade said. “So I was just trusting my homework and my instincts right there.”
Maddon did not hesitate giving Wade the green light.
“He studies it. He’s ready for it. He wants to do it. He’s not afraid of it,” Maddon said. “All the things you need to do to be a good base-stealer. And he’s fast.”
For most of a chilly, breezy afternoon, the Angels were unable to contend with the shadows of a 4 p.m. start and the 98-mph fastball/85-mph curveball combination of Miami left-hander Jesus Luzardo, who struck out 12 in five innings.
Miami took a 1-0 lead in the third when Garrett Cooper hit a two-out single and scored when Bryan De La Cruz’s single to right skipped by Jo Adell’s glove for an error.
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The Angels tied it in the fourth when Mike Trout, who returned to the lineup after missing Monday night’s game because of a stomach bug, walked, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Mayfield’s triple to right.
Trout walked with one out in the sixth. Rendon followed with a fly ball that barely cleared the short wall in the left-field corner for a two-run homer and a 3-1 lead.
But the left-handed-hitting Chisholm hit a mirror image of Rendon’s homer in the seventh, following reliever Mike Mayers’ leadoff walk to Jon Berti with a 353-foot fly that barely cleared the short wall in right, his two-run shot tying the score 3-3.
Short hops
Shortstop David Fletcher was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a left hip strain before the game. Infielder Andrew Velazquez, claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees last November, was recalled from triple-A Salt Lake and started at shortstop Tuesday.
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