Michael Hermosillo's sacrifice fly scored Matt Thaiss from third base in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday evening in Anaheim, Calif.
The Angels began the 10th with Thaiss on second base, and David Fletcher moved him to third with a single to right field. After Brian Goodwin struck out and Anthony Rendon was intentionally walked, Hermosillo lifted a fly ball to right field off Nivaldo Rodriguez (0-1) deep enough to score Thaiss and give the Angels the win.
Los Angeles took a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning thanks to an impressive performance from starting pitcher Griffin Canning, who out-dueled Astros starter Zack Greinke. But the Angels' bullpen, which has struggled all season, came up short again.
Josh Reddick got a ninth-inning rally started with a solo homer with one out. One out later, Garrett Stubbs singled, and pinch runner Myles Straw stole second.
George Springer followed and jumped on a 2-1 off-speed pitch from Angels closer Hansel Robles, hitting it over the fence in left field for a two-run homer and 4-3 Astros lead.
But in the bottom of the ninth, ex-Astro Jason Castro hit an RBI double off Astros reliever Cy Sneed, tying the game at 4-4 and sending it into extra innings.
Early on, all eyes were on Greinke, who took a perfect game into the sixth inning. And though Canning wasn't perfect, he kept the Astros off the scoreboard through six.
The Angels got to Greinke for two runs in the bottom of the sixth, one coming home on a sacrifice fly by Fletcher, the other scoring on an RBI single by Goodwin.
Canning was done after yielding a leadoff double to Reddick in the seventh, getting charged with a run when Angels reliever Felix Pena surrendered an RBI single to Springer.
Canning allowed one run on six hits and two walks in six-plus innings, striking out five. Greinke gave up two runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.
Greinke was sharp from the outset. He was perfect through 5 1/3 innings, retiring the first 16 batters he faced until Taylor Ward singled to left field with one out in the sixth.
--Field Level Media
