Taylor Ward’s two-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning lifted the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
The Angels trailed 3-1 going into the bottom of the ninth inning but they put runners on first and second with two out against Twins closer Jorge Lopez.
Lopez got two quick strikes on Magneuris Sierra, but Sierra sliced a liner into the left field corner, where Twins left fielder Nick Gordon attempted to make a diving catch.
However, Gordon came up empty and the ball went to the wall. Two runs scored on the play to tie the game at 3-3, but Sierra’s attempt at a game-winning inside-the-park home run was thwarted when shortstop Carlos Correa’s relay throw from shallow left field to catcher Gary Sanchez was in time to nail him at the plate and send the game into extra innings.
The Angels, though, were able to finish it off in the 11th when Ward connected on a full-count pitch from Twins reliever Emilio Pagan (3-6). Angels reliever Ryan Tepera (2-2) pitched a scoreless top of the 11th to earn the victory.
Correa homered, singled, walked three times and also had a sacrifice fly to lead the Twins offense, which totaled 10 hits.
The Angels’ lone offense before the ninth-inning rally came from Shohei Ohtani, who hit his 26th homer of the season in the eighth inning.
Minnesota starter Dylan Bundy, who pitched for the Angels the past two seasons, allowed just two hits and one walk over five scoreless innings.
The Twins took a 1-0 lead against Angels starter Reid Detmers in the first inning when Correa connected on a 96-mph fastball, hitting it over the fence in right-center field.
Detmers kept the Twins from scoring again until the fifth, though he escaped cheaply enough. Minnesota loaded the bases with no outs on a walk by Max Kepler, a single by Sanchez and a hit-by-pitch by Byron Buxton.
Correa drove in Kepler with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, but Detmers struck out the next two hitters to limit the damage. Detmers was done after five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks while striking out nine.
–Field Level Media