While he did have a couple of halfway decent innings, he was never able to get into a groove.
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But that couldn’t top tens of thousands of Angels fans singing “Happy Birthday” to baseball’s best player during Friday night’s 8-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
“I think that gave me the chills”, Trout said of the first-inning chorus from the stands.
“Sure enough, they did it, and that added a little fuel to my competitive fire right there, ” Murphy said. That brought Albert Pujols up, and Showalter correctly (in my opinion) opted to walk him as well – loading the bases for David Murphy.
Fernando Salas (2-1) picked up the win with a third of an inning in relief. He struck out two and walked one and saw his ERA rise from 1.97 to 2.45.
Third baseman Manny Machado had three of the Orioles’ 12 hits.
Baltimore’s lead might have been greater than 3-0 entering the late innings, but an apparent run in the second inning was wiped out when it was determined via video replay that Jonathan Schoop’s right foot never touched home plate and he was called out.
But right-hander Kevin Gausman suffered his third loss in his last four decisions. Richards (11-9) struck out seven in his six innings but allowed three runs on seven hits, walked one and threw two wild pitches.NOTES: Baltimore released RHP Bud Norris nine days after designating him for assignment…. “He presented himself pretty well against a good team on the road”.
In the bottom of the sixth, with two men on, Chris Iannetta hit a huge double off of the left field wall, clearing the bases and once again the Angels had the lead. Matt Wieters took him deep deep to center, giving Baltimore a 4-3 advantage, and Heaney would only make it to 5.2 IP on the night.
The Orioles combined three hits and a hit batter in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead against right-hander Jered Weaver, who was making his first start after being activated from the disabled list.
“I let the emotions get the best of me”, he said. “I wasn’t really commanding the fastball at the start, and it’s tough to throw change-ups when you’re not throwing strikes, when you’re constantly behind in the count”. Trout led off the inning with a single to left-center field.
When backup catcher Carlos Perez doubled to steer off the 11th inning, in his exclusively at-bat of the sport, the Angels had the profitable run in scoring place.
Trout, by the way, had two hits, including his 33rd home run of the season – which means he has homered on his birthday three times while in the big leagues.
He informed Wilson the Orioles in all probability would stroll Trout deliberately, then stroll Pujols deliberately, establishing the matchup between left-handers, however placing the potential profitable run at third base. After starting the inning with an infield single, Reimold tried to take third base on a single by right fielder Gerardo Parra.
“He’s got guts if he’s going to try to throw an off-speed pitch right there”, Murphy said.
“We play good defense, that’s a constant”, Jones said. “They bailed me out of a lot of situations”. Following two Gausman walks to start the last of the fourth, David Murphy’s RBI-single cut the lead to 3-2.
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The Halos got it back, though, in the bottom of the fourth, when new guy David Murphy singled in Mike Trout, and then Johnny Giavotella further solidified his clutch status by hitting an RBI double.
