Field Level Media
Sep 25, 2018
Jose Briceno's home run leading off the bottom of the 11th inning gave the Los Angeles Angels a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Briceno, pinch-hitting for fellow catcher Francisco Arcia, hit an 0-2 pitch from Rangers pitcher Matt Moore (3-8) over the fence in left-center field to end the Angels' five-game losing streak.
The Angels earlier got solo homers from Shohei Ohtani, Jefry Marte and Michael Hermosillo.
Felix Pena started on the mound for the Angels and gave up three runs on five hits in seven innings. He issued one walk while striking out six. It was the third time in his past five starts that Pena went seven innings, his season high.
Taylor Cole (3-2), the last of four Angels relievers in the game, pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the 11th to get the win.
The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Ohtani's home run, his 21st of the season. His career high in Japanese baseball was 22 homers, set in 2016.
The blast also was measured as Ohtani's hardest-hit home run of the season, the exit velocity estimated at 112.9 mph by Statcast.
The Rangers got even in the second inning on Ronald Guzman's home run, his 16th of the season.
The Angels got two more solo homers off Rangers starter Adrian Sampson in the fourth, Marte's sixth of the season and Hermosillo's first in the major leagues.
Jurickson Profar's two-run homer in the top of the sixth tied the game at 3-3, but the Angels broke the tie in the bottom of the inning. Marte was hit by a pitch leading off, took second on a balk by Sampson and went to third on a groundout.
Sampson was replaced by Connor Sadzeck, whose wild pitch allowed Marte score, giving Los Angeles a 4-3 lead.
Sampson allowed four runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings.
Ty Buttrey took the ball for the Angels in the ninth inning with a chance to earn a save. However, with two outs, he gave up a double to Guzman and an RBI single by pinch hitter Elvis Andrus, tying the game at 4-4.
--Field Level Media