Jaime Barria threw five scoreless innings and Mickey Moniak hit a tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning and the Los Angeles Angels held on for a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Barria was making his first start of the season after making 10 relief appearances. He was up to the task, limiting the Red Sox to two hits. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.
Relievers Aaron Loup and Chris Devenski got the Angels to the eighth inning, and Chase Silseth closed it out with two scoreless innings.
The only run the Red Sox scored came in the sixth inning when Connor Wong singled, went to third on a groundout and scored on a single by Masataka Yoshida, one of his two hits in the game.
The Red Sox had just four hits in all, but the Angels had only five themselves.
The game was tied at 1-1 going to the bottom of the eighth when Moniak led off the inning with a homer off Boston reliever Kutter Crawford (1-2). It was Moniak’s third homer since being called up from Triple-A Salt Lake on May 12.
Silseth (1-1) retired all six batters he faced to earn the victory.
The Angels took the lead against Red Sox starter Tanner Houck in the second inning when Brandon Drury walked with one out, went to third on a single by Matt Thaiss and scored on a groundout by Luis Rengifo.
Houck still faced trouble as Zach Neto was hit by a pitch and Moniak followed with a single, loading the bases for Mike Trout.
But Houck escaped, striking out Trout with a slider on a 1-2 pitch.
Houck settled in after the second and completed six innings, not allowing another Angels hitter to reach base, retiring the Angels in order in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
