Willie Calhoun hit a sacrifice fly to cap a three-run rally in the sixth that lifted the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 victory over the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.
Calhoun plated Logan O’Hoppe, whose run-scoring single preceded Brandon Drury’s RBI double.
Los Angeles’ bullpen took care of the rest, with Adam Cimber (3-0) striking out the side in the sixth, Matt Moore fanning two in 1 1/3 clean innings, and Luis Garcia getting the last two outs of the eighth.
Carlos Estevez proceeded to work a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save as the Angels captured the rubber match of the three-game series. Angels pitchers struck out 13.
Pittsburgh failed to hang on to a 4-2 edge that it generated in the home half of the fifth.
Joey Bart doubled with one out in the frame, and Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds drew two-out walks to load the bases. Oneil Cruz then brought all three runners home with a double to deep right-center to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. Connor Joe put the finishing touches on the outburst with a single that scored Cruz.
Joe’s knock chased Angels starter Jose Soriano from the game in favor of Cimber, who recorded the final out of the inning ahead of his perfect sixth.
Soriano was tagged with the four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.
Jo Adell opened the top of the third with his fifth homer of the season to put Los Angeles up 1-0. He ended up doubling the Angels’ lead with an RBI single two innings later.
Adell was responsible for driving in two of the four runs that Pittsburgh starter Martin Perez yielded across his five-plus innings. Perez gave up eight hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned five.
Luis Ortiz (2-2) took the loss. Cruz and Joe each had two hits for the Pirates.
Drury went 2-for-3 for Los Angeles before exiting the game in the seventh due to left hamstring tightness.
–Field Level Media
