Cincinnati Reds come from behind to beat Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

ANAHEIM — Cincinnati Reds infielder Matt McLain grew up a Los Angeles Angels fan, about 10 minutes from Angel Stadium. He stayed close to home when he went to college at UCLA, before the Reds eventually drafted him in the first round two years ago.

“It’ll be cool,” he said simply of playing his first big-league game at his hometown ballpark with dozens of friends and family in the seats behind the visitors dugout.

McLain then hit an opposite-field home run off former All-Star Lucas Giolito in his first hometown at-bat as a big-leaguer.

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"It was good," McLain said. "I got a good pitch to hit and I hit it well, and it just left the ballpark."

Talk about cool.

A few innings later, another local kid from nearby Long Beach, rookie Spencer Steer, doubled into the left field corner with two outs to cap a three-run rally and provide the winning run in the Reds' 4-3 victory over the Angels to open an important 10-game west coast swing.

“Pretty cool moment,” Steer said. “First time playing here. Obviously grew up coming to this stadium, an Angels fan. …”

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The bookend blows of hometown heroes helped provide just enough to get starter Graham Ashcraft (7-8) runs for a big win to open a trip delayed by a once-in-a-century tropical storm in the region that postponed Monday's scheduled opener and created a doubleheader Wednesday.

Ashcraft survived back-to-back homers by ex-Reds Brandon Drury and Mike Moustakas in the second inning, and another by Logan O’Hoppe in the third, to get through seven innings with the lead, thanks to teammates taking advantage of a two-out error to score three times in the fifth.

Ashcraft finished with a career-high 10 strikeouts, including four straight from the end of the fourth through a 1-2-3 fifth that concluded with back-to-back whiffs by Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.

Ashcraft retired the final 10 batters he faced.

"I thought the sixth and seventh were as good as I've seen Graham," manager David Bell said.

Will Benson led off the Reds’ big fourth with a walk, and one out later TJ Friedl doubled him to third. After McLain struck out, Elly De La Cruz bounced an easy hopper to rookie first-baseman Nolan Schanuel, who lost the ball off his glove as De La Cruz tore down the line.

“It puts pressure on the defenders,” Bell said of the Reds’ aggressive and fleet base running. “These are major league defenders, and they’re going to make most of the plays. But when you can add that kind of pressure, it changes how you approach a ball and makes you rush a little bit.

“It’s really helped us a lot,” said the manager, whose team also stole three bases. “Tonight I thought our base running was a big part of our game.”

Both runners scored on the play to tie the game. And when Steer followed with the double the Reds had the lead for good. And their major-league-leading 38th come-from-behind win.

It was just the sixth win in 18 games for the Reds in August, allowing them to keep pace with the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and pick up a game on the second-place Chicago Cubs (now a half-game back of the Cubs).

Next up for the Reds: Facing two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani pitching for the Angels in the opener of Wednesday’s doubleheader.

“It’ll be cool,” McLain said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds beat Los Angeles Angels to open important trip