Morales' 10th-inning blast pulls Jays past Angels
Kendrys Morales' two-out, pinch-hit home run in the top of the 10th inning lifted the Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
Morales was pinch-hitting for shortstop Aledmys Diaz, who homered earlier in the game. Angels reliever Hansel Robles threw a 2-1 slider that Morales hit into the right field bleachers for his eighth homer of the season.
The Blue Jays hammered four homers in the game, also getting long balls from Devon Travis and Curtis Granderson. Justin Smoak chipped in with three hits, including two doubles.
Ryan Tepera (5-2) got the win over Robles (0-1 with the Angels, 2-3 overall). Tyler Clippard pitched the 10th for his fourth save.
Mike Trout, starting for the Angels at designated hitter for the fourth game in a row because of a sprained right index finger, went 1-for-5 and wound up 2-for-14 in the four-game series.
The teams wound up with a split, Toronto taking the final two contests.
Down 6-3 in the eighth, the Angels rallied with three unearned runs to tie the game, thanks in part to throwing errors by the second baseman Travis and third baseman Yangervis Solarte.
Tepera then was summoned with two outs and the bases loaded to face Martin Maldonado, who smacked a fastball over the head of left fielder Teoscar Hernandez for a game-tying, three-run double.
The rally ended there, however, the game going into extra innings tied at 6-6.
The Blue Jays jumped out to an early lead when Travis got ahold of a 93 mph fastball from Angels starter Felix Pena for a two-out, three-run home run and a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
Those were the only runs Pena allowed in five innings. He gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out six.
Blue Jays starter Sam Gaviglio put up zeros over the first three innings, but the Angels got to him with a solo homer by Justin Upton in the fourth to make it 3-1. Then in the fifth, RBI singles by Maldonado and Ian Kinsler not only tied the game at 3, but also knocked Gaviglio out of the game.
Toronto snapped the tie with solo homers by Diaz and Granderson in the sixth inning off Angels reliever Noe Ramirez, then added an unearned run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Luke Maile to make it 6-3.
--Field Level Media
