ANAHEIM, Calif. — It hasn’t been said much in 2026, but on Saturday night, the bullpen came up huge for the Angels.
After left-hander Reid Detmers left the game in the seventh inning with bases loaded, one out and the score now tied, the bullpen shut it down from there and gave the Angels a chance to win.
The Angels (13-21) did not relinquish that opportunity and won, 4-3, on a walk-off single by third baseman Oswald Peraza in the 10th inning over the New York Mets (11-22) to snap a seven-game losing streak.
“I'm just really proud of them,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “They grinded, they battled, Reid pitched his butt off, ( Sam Bachman ) came in and stopped the bleeding, and ( Ryan Zeferjahn ) was awesome. They just kept going. We faced good pitching tonight, and they kept having good at-bats and good at-bats, and finally, pulling it off was awesome.”
The bullpen heroics started with Bachman.
He came into a bases-loaded one-out situation in a tied game in the seventh inning to face the top of the Mets’ lineup and was just about perfect. Bachman got third baseman Bo Bichette to ground a ball to Peraza, who threw home for the forceout, then struck out designated hitter Juan Soto to escape the jam.
Bachman went out for the eighth inning and struck out the first two batters and then got second baseman Marcus Semien to ground out to complete the one-two-three inning.
Bachman’s ERA is now 3.18 on the season and he, along with right-hander Chase Silseth , has been one of the only relievers in the pen that the Angels can trust so far this season.
“He's been great,” Suzuki said. “He's done everything that we've asked him to do, one inning, two innings, back-to-back days, he's done it all.”
Entering today’s game, the bullpen had the second-worst ERA in baseball at 5.69.
In the ninth inning, Zeferjahn took the ball and wasn’t going to let go of it until the game was over.
“I want the ball whenever my name's called,” Zeferjahn said. “I was going out there until we won the game. It's big to have some success in those scenarios now and get some confidence going forward.”
He pitched a clean one-two-three ninth inning and went back out for the 10th. Going back out for the second inning has been a struggle for Zeferjahn this season, but when the Angels needed him most, he flipped the script.
Zeferjahn was dealt with adversity right away in extra innings when catcher Sebastián Rivero committed catcher’s interference on the leadoff hitter, putting runners on first and second with nobody out.
He got Bichette to ground out into a double play that put the lead runner on third, and after intentionally walking Soto, he got catcher Francisco Alvarez to pop out to end the inning.
Bachman and Zeferjahn delivered 3 ⅔ innings of shutout ball and only allowed one base runner to give the Angels a prime opportunity to win this game.
“I think that's a testament to our bullpen, our whole team, just keeping it a day at a time, pitch at a time,” Bachman said of the bullpen’s contributions tonight. “Continue to play good baseball nonetheless, so just keep building on top of that.”
The bullpen had done its job. Then it was the offense’s turn to go to work.
In the bottom of the 10th, the Angels loaded the bases with nobody out, but made life difficult on themselves by hitting two fly outs not deep enough to score the runner from third.
In a 0-2 count, Peraza delivered his third hit of the night with a line drive into left-center field for the walk-off win.
“When I control my body, I see the pitch,” Peraza said. “I control my body now. I put a lot of work in my body. I feel good.”
The Angels have snapped their seven-game losing streak and look to take the series against the Mets on Sunday.
