Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Wed, June 10, the Los Angeles Angels hosted the Houston Astros in the series finale of a three-game set at Angel Stadium. With both teams splitting the first two games, the Halos looked to get a super-rare home series win against Houston, whom they hadn’t defeated at the Big A since the 2020 season when there were no fans in the stands. So, the last time that the Angels defeated the Astros in a series in Anaheim with fans in the stands came in the final weekend of the 2016 regular season. Reid Detmers started this game for the Halos as he looked to continue his good stretch of pitching that he had over the past few starts. Peter Lambert was the starter for Houston in this game between division rivals occupying the bottom-two spots of the AL West standings.

The game started off with a blast as Mike Trout hit a solo home run in the first inning after Detmers pitched a clean top half of the opening frame. Detmers dominated the Astros lineup early, with him having five strikeouts in the first three innings. In fact, Detmers used his great arsenal of pitches to pitch five perfect innings versus Houston. The Halos provided an extra run of support for their skilled southpaw as Logan O’Hoppe hit a blast of a homer into the bullpen with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. It was 2-0 Angels and things were looking quite swell for Detmers.

But to start out the top of the sixth, Detmers finally made a mistake as Houston shortstop Shay Whitcomb hit a solo home run to break up the perfect game/no-hitter bid. In spite of that mishap, Detmers got the next three batters out to remain in line for the win. Lambert was pitching very solidly in this game as well, but his mistakes tallied two with the solo shots by Trout and O’Hoppe. In the top of the seventh, Detmers returned to the mound and he got Yordan Alvarez, Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes out in order. In the bottom of the seventh, Oswald Peraza hit a lead-off single and he stole both second and third base during an at-bat that Nick Madrigal had against Lambert, who ended up catching a ball hit straight up the middle on a hop by Madrigal for a groundout. Lambert was taken out after feeling some pain in his pitching hand by Astros manager Joe Espada and reliever Enyel de los Santos came in to pitch against Trey Mancini, who was the starting first baseman. Mancini unfortunately hit a liner straight to Walker at first and Walker threw the ball to Paredes at third to turn an odd double play on Peraza to end the inning. A huge missed opportunity for the Halos to get an add-on run to this fragile lead of theirs.

In the top of the eighth, a new pitcher entered the game for the Angels and it was Chase Silseth. Detmers was done after seven solid innings that featured him giving up just one hit and getting nine strikeouts. Cam Smith was due up first for Houston and on a 2-2 splitter from Silseth, he launched a ball to deep center field that ended up being a home run. The score had been tied on a solo shot and Detmers would be left standing with another no-decision. Silseth got the next three batters out to end the inning, but Houston had knotted this score up at two apiece. In the bottom of the eighth, the inning started with José Siri drawing a walk against de los Santos. O’Hoppe then laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Siri to second base. Zach Neto came up next and he hit a ball out to left field, but it was caught by subbed-in left fielder Joey Loperfido, who then looked to throw the ball to third base as Siri was looking to slide into the bag. Siri slid in safely, but his face collided slightly with Isaac Paredes’ knee. Siri was checked on by a training staffer and stayed in the game. Meanwhile, Espada intentionally walked Trout and went to the bullpen to get a left-handed pitcher to face Wade Meckler. That pitcher was Bryan King, who struck out Meckler on three pitches despite Trout freely advancing to second base during the at-bat. Another big missed opportunity for the Halos to score with a runner at third base.

Sam Bachman entered to pitch in the top of the ninth and he got the first two hitters out to start the inning. But then Alvarez came up and he hit a 1-2 sinker out to left field for a single. The very next pitch, Christian Walker hit a ball down the left-field line and it was a double. Meckler quickly got to the ball and threw it in to Neto, who didn’t see that Alvarez was being held up at third base. Neto fired the ball to home plate, where it sailed over the head of O’Hoppe. Seeing the ball go over the head of the catcher, Alvarez proceeded to run towards home plate, but Bachman did well to back up O’Hoppe and picked up the ball, which he threw swiftly to home plate as Alvarez was about to slide in. The ball was caught by O’Hoppe and as Alvarez slid the tag was applied on the foot of the giant designated hitter. But home plate umpire Ron Kulpa called Alvarez safe and Kurt Suzuki immediately challenged the call on the field. After a quick replay review that clearly showed that O’Hoppe’s mitt was on Alvarez’s foot before the latter made contact with the plate, the call on the field had been overturned and the wild play was an out after all. What a wild sequence to prevent the Astros from taking the lead. Had Neto’s errant throw not happened and Bachman hadn’t gotten the ball as fast as he did, the next hitter up would have been Paredes, who happened to be in the on-deck circle when the ball sailed over O’Hoppe and the ball hit him on the leg. If the ball didn’t deflect off Paredes like it did, Bachman probably would not have been able to throw out Alvarez. A big play in such a close game. In the bottom of the ninth, Josh Hader entered to pitch in a non-save situation to force extra innings and he did just that with him easily retiring Jo Adell, Peraza and Madrigal in order.

The game was going to extra innings and the Halos hadn’t had that much luck in them lately with the automatic runner at second base. They lost two games in the tenth to the Athletics a few weeks prior. In the series opener on Monday night, the Angels were unable to bring in their “ghost runner” in Trout, who was tagged out at home plate on a potential game-tying hit from Siri after Houston scored in the top of the tenth. So, the pressure was on Ryan Zeferjahn to not let Jeremy Peña, who was pinch-running for Walker at second base, score in this inning. Zeferjahn struck out Paredes to start the top of the 10th strong, but he threw a wild pitch during an at-bat against Smith that advanced Peña to third base. On a full count, Zeferjahn managed to strike out Smith looking. Next up was Loperfido, but Suzuki intentionally walked him to put a potential force out at second base into play. Whitcomb came up with a chance to give Houston the lead with two outs, but he grounded out to Neto to end the inning. Zeferjahn had successfully prevented the Astros’ automatic runner from scoring. Now in the bottom of the tenth, the “ghost runner” Nick Madrigal was the game-winning run at second base.

Mancini was due up first, but he was pinch-hit for by Donovan Walton, who would face Bryan Abreu. On a 2-1 count, Walton laid down a bunt that dribbled on the third base side of the mound. Abreu failed to get to the ball in a timely manner and Walton was safe at first and he also advanced Madrigal to third. Now, José Siri was coming up to bat. With a chance to win the game, Siri didn’t hesitate as on an 0-2 count he hit a fastball from Abreu into left field and the ball dropped in fair territory. Madrigal scored as the Angels had their fifth walk-off win of the year and their third one in extra innings. Siri had successfully hit his second walk-off hit of his career. The Halos had finally secured their first home series win over the Astros in so many years.

Now at 27-42, the Angels will next play against the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-game series at home. As another former team that Siri played on, there might be more magical moments from the guy with the same surname as the Apple iPhone’s artificial intelligence assistant. Another incredible win at the Big A for the Halos, who sometimes don’t look like a last-place team after all.