Anthony Rendon’s two-out RBI single drove in Shohei Ohtani from second base to cap a three-run, ninth-inning rally and lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif.
Rendon was 0-for-8 in the first two games against his former team but was given a chance to be the hero Sunday thanks to the comeback in the ninth against Nationals reliever Tanner Rainey.
The Angels put runners on first and third with one out, but Rainey blew a fastball past Mike Trout for the second out of the inning. Rainey started Ohtani with a fastball that Ohtani swung at and missed. But he followed that with a slider that Ohtani hit off the wall in left-center, driving in both runners to tie the game at 4-4.
Up stepped Rendon, who went 2-for-5 Sunday against the team he won a World Series with in 2019. Rendon got a hold of a 97 mph fastball from Rainey and hit it into left-center. Angels third-base coach Phil Nevin sent Ohtani, who beat the throw from Nationals center fielder Victor Robles to win it for Los Angeles.
Angels reliever Jaime Barria (1-0) earned the win over Rainey (0-1). Nationals starter Erick Fedde got a no-decision despite five scoreless innings.
The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the third against Angels starter Patrick Sandoval, but the Angels’ left-hander escaped cheaply. Washington loaded the bases with one out for Juan Soto, but Sandoval got Soto to hit into a force play — the Nationals’ MVP candidate getting an RBI — but Sandoval worked his way out of the inning.
The score remained 1-0 until the sixth, when the Nationals went ahead 2-0 on a sacrifice fly by Lane Thomas. Sandoval was removed from the game with two outs in the inning, but reliever Mike Mayers gave up an RBI single to Alcides Escobar, the run being charged to Sandoval and the Nationals taking a 3-0 lead.
The Angels got close in the bottom of the sixth after putting runners on first and second to begin the inning. Brandon Marsh moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and both scored on a pinch-hit single by Jack Mayfield.
The Nationals responded in the top of the seventh with an RBI single by Josh Bell to take a 4-2 lead.
–Field Level Media