ANAHEIM, Calif. — For the majority of the season, the big hit has eluded the Angels.
But on Saturday night, they got not only the big hit they've been desperately searching for, but they also got a big throw to help.
Vaughn Grissom tied the game in the ninth inning with a solo home run, Josh Lowe gunned down the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the 10th and Christian Moore walked it off in the 11th with an infield single as the Angels complete their dramatic 6-5 win over the Twins.
"We just were able to break through," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. "Put yourself in those situations enough, eventually you come through. Credit to those guys, they keep fighting, they keep putting us in positions to win the game, and then obviously (Moore) with the big knock."
The Angels definitely put themselves in those situations to come through in this game, but they waited until the very last minute to actually capitalize on them. They finished the game 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 runners on base (granted the three runners on base when they walked it off count toward that total).
Other than Jose Siri 's two-run homer in the fourth inning, the Angels' offense didn't wake up until the eighth inning.
The Angels were down by three runs heading into the eighth, but Adam Frazier attacked the first pitch he saw for a pinch-hit RBI double scored a pair of runs to make it a one-run game.
"When you get up in a running score position, you want to be ready to hit," Suzuki said. "You get a good pitch to hit, you put your good swings on them, so try not to wait around."
With one out in the ninth, Grissom launched a ball over the wall in right-center for his 12th homer of the season to tie the game.
It wasn't until the 11th inning that the Angels could finally put this one to bed. After Mike Trout was intentionally walked and Grissom got hit by a pitch to load the bases, Moore hit a sharp groundball back to the pitcher, and it bounced off right-hander Taylor Rogers for an infield single to walk it off.
"Definitely huge for him," Suzuki said. "Like we talked about in the beginning, it's always nice to see results when you put a lot of work in. (Moore has) been working, he's been grinding, and to come up in that spot is kind of almost meant to be."
Moore wasn't in the starting lineup for this game because Suzuki wanted him to have a "work day" to work on some things in the cages. He's struggled in his second year in the big leagues, hitting .173 with a .472 OPS.
"I think whenever I can come in late in the game or even be in a game and start and have a chance up there to win a ball game or try to game up, I always want to be in that spot," Moore said. "So I was grateful enough to skip calling my number there and grateful that I got my back there in that last inning and just wanted to do my job."
The Angels couldn't have been in a position to win, though, without some heroics from the other side of the ball.
The Angels' bullpen held the Twins scoreless in the 9th, 10th and 11th innings, despite starting out with a runner on second base in the extra innings.
In the 10th, Brooks Lee flew out to left field to move the runner to third base with only one out. Royce Lewis hit a fly ball to right field that looked deep enough to potentially score the go-ahead run, but Josh Lowe came up huge and gunned the runner down at the plate to end the inning unscathed.
"You need to play like that to win these types of games," Grissom said. "I wouldn't say I knew we had a really good shot if we're going to cut down that run and then get a chance to have no outs guy on second. Obviously we didn't get it done the first inning, but it was only a matter of time. But yeah, sick throw."
In the 11th, left-hander Taylor Saucedo left the runner stranded at third base by getting a ground out and a pair of strikeouts.
Lost in the fold of all this is a milestone night from left-hander Reid Detmers .
The outing itself is forgettable compared to the season that he's put up. Detmers allowed four earned runs in five innings on six hits with five strikeouts to end his streak of seven consecutive quality starts. It's the first time since July 9 that he allowed four or more runs in a start.
Those five strikouts, though, put him past the 200-strikeout mark on the season. He now ranks seventh in baseball and fourth in the American League. Detmers joins Frank Tanana and Chuck Finley as the only left-handers in Angels history to strike out 200 batters in a season. Both Tanana and Finley did so three times.
"It's obviously a number that everybody works towards throughout the year, as a starting pitcher at least," Detmers said. "It's cool to finally get there. But it's kind of one of those things where it happens and it's like, 'okay, what's next?' Obviously the outing didn't go as planned, but it is what it is. Move on to the next and I guess."
He also notched the 700th strikeout of his career, which now puts him fifth all-time among strikeouts by a left-hander in Angels history.
