Drury has three hits, including a home run, as Angels hold on for 7-6 win over Rays
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brandon Drury had three hits, including his 16th home run in the fifth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels held on for a 7-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday in the first game of a split doubleheader.
The split doubleheader was scheduled Friday due to the threat of Hurricane Hilary making landfall in Southern California on Sunday.
Randal Grichuk drove in two runs for the Angels, who won for just the fifth time in 17 August games. Grichuk also made a leaping catch at the wall in the second inning to rob Yandy Diaz of a home run.
“I’ve been working on my first step and trying to get a good jump,” Grichuk said. “Anytime you contribute that’s good. I’ve stranded some guys recently, so it was good to cash those guys in offensively.”
Josh Lowe had three hits and a homer, and René Pinto and Jonathan Aranda both went deep for the first time this season for the Rays.
This was the type of game the Angels usually find themselves on the short end — plenty of homers but too many mistakes defensively. This time, the roles were reversed.
The game was tied at 2 before the Angels scored four times in the third as the Rays committed an error along with a passed ball and wild pitch.
“We’ve certainly had it happen to us quite a bit, but that’s what good teams do,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “When there’s mistakes made behind you, you capitalize whether it’s a wild pitch or a bobbled ball here and there. We certainly did a couple of times today. But we also swung the bats very well.”
Drury, who snapped out of an 0-for-20 slump Friday night, led off the fifth with a homer to right-center on a full count. It was only his second homer since July 1.
Griffin Canning (7-5) got the win and Reynaldo Lopez pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
Lowe drove in two runs in the first when he lined a bases-loaded single to right and then led off the fourth with a homer to right-center.
In the Angels’ third, Mike Moustakas reached to load the bases after Tampa Bay first baseman Aranda booted a ball. Nolan Schanuel then scored on a passed ball by Pinto.
Matt Thaiss followed with an RBI base hit and Moustakas scored on a wild pitch by Rays starter Tyler Glasnow (6-4). Two batters later, Grichuk’s RBI double to left-center put Los Angeles up 6-2.
“We didn’t help him out defensively and with our positioning. It kind of snowballed on everything,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Glasnow. “They continued to put pressure on us. When they got guys on base, they got some hard-hit balls.”
Tampa Bay answered with three in the third on Lowe’s solo shot and a two-run drive to center by Pinto.
After Drury’s homer, Aranda brought Tampa Bay back within a run when he drove Canning’s curveball 430 feet over the right-field wall to lead off the sixth.
Tampa Bay’s Zach Eflin (12-7,) faces Los Angeles’ Patrick Sandoval (6-9) in the nightcap.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: OF Mike Trout (left hamate fracture) took some swings in the indoor batting cages before the game. Manager Phil Nevin said the three-time AL MVP is very close to returning but didn’t want to say if he could be activated on Monday.
UP NEXT
Rays; Return home and have two days off before opening a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday.
Angels: Scheduled to begin a three-game series against Cincinnati on Monday.
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