MIAMI — Kyle Stowers tripled, singled and drove in two runs before exiting because of left hamstring discomfort in the fifth inning, and the Miami Marlins beat the Angels 12-3 on Sunday.
Griffin Conine homered twice and Javier Sanoja had two singles and three RBIs for the Marlins. Miami’s Otto López had two infield singles, giving him 46 multi-hit games.
Stowers grimaced as he rounded first after his two-run single capped a six-run fifth that put the Marlins ahead 10-2. He was immediately replaced by pinch-runner Leo Jimenez.
Sanoja hit a two-run single and Conine added a two-run drive against Angels reliever Shaun Anderson before Stowers’ single.
Conine went deep again with a shot over the wall in right against position player Tyler Heineman to lead off the eighth.
Michael Petersen (2-2) threw a scoreless fifth for the win. Marlins starter Ryan Gusto was pulled after four innings of two-run ball and 60 pitches. Gusto gave up three hits and struck out four.
The Marlins (60-59) erased a 1-0 deficit with a three-run first against Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez (3-5).
Stowers tripled and scored on a wild pitch. An errant throw to third by Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel attempting to get Xavier Edwards out allowed him to score for a 2-1 lead. Owen Caissie capped the scoring with an RBI single.
The Angels (45-73) narrowed the gap on José Siri’s solo blast in the third. Siri hit a fastball from Gusto over the wall in center for his seventh homer.
Sanoja’s RBI single in the fourth made it 4-2.
Zach Neto put the Angels on the board with a run-scoring double in the first.
Rodriguez completed four innings. The right-hander gave up four runs and four hits. He walked four and struck out eight.
MIAMI — Sandy Alcantara struck out eight in seven innings, becoming the Miami Marlins’ career leader in innings pitched, and Xavier Edwards had three RBIs in a 7-0 victory over the Angels on Saturday.
Alcantara (13-6) broke the record in the third, working his 1,226th inning and passing Ricky Nolasco, who pitched 1,225⅔ innings for the Marlins (59-59) from 2006-13. He gave up three hits and walked one. Reliever Pete Fairbanks struck out all three batters in the ninth to end the game.
Edwards hit an RBI double as Miami took a 2-0 lead in the third, followed by Otto Lopez’s two-run single to double the Marlins’ lead. Jakob Marsee tripled to lead off the fifth, and Edwards singled to send him home.
Griffin Conine singled and Heriberto Hernández doubled in the fifth to make it 7-0.
Angels starter Walbert Ureña (7-8) pitched the first 2⅓ innings. He gave up four hits and four earned runs. He walked three and struck out two. Brett Kerry pitched the final 5⅔ innings, striking out seven and walking one. He gave up six hits.
Up next: RHP Grayson Rodriguez (3-4, 7.24 ERA) will start on the mound for the Angels (45-72) in the series finale on Sunday. RHP Ryan Gusto (0-3, 4.80) will start for the Marlins.
MIAMI — Mike Trout and Nolan Schanuel hit home runs for the Angels in a 4-3 win over the Marlins on Friday, sending Miami to its fourth consecutive loss.
Trout homered in the first inning to open the scoring. Trout, who turned 35 on Friday, hit a home run on his birthday for the sixth time in his 16 MLB seasons.
Josh Lowe scored when Trout reached on a fielder error by Josh Ekness and Schanuel hit a two-run shot to center field, his second home run in as many games, in the seventh.
Shaun Anderson (2-0) recorded the final out of the sixth and earned the win. He walked one and gave up one hit.
Owen Caissie walked to lead off the fourth, Jakub Marsee singled and Esteury Ruiz walked before Kyle Stowers drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in Caissie.
Stowers added an RBI single in the sixth.
In the ninth inning, with two outs, Leo Jiménez hit an RBI single to center field to score Agustín Ramírez and make it 4-3. Javier Sanoja hit the ball off the glove of third baseman Denzer Guzman and left fielder Jose Siri’s throw home beat Jiménez to end the game. Replay review confirmed the out.
José Fermin pitched the ninth and earned his first career save. He allowed one run and three hits.
Ekness (0-1) pitched 1⅔ innings and allowed three runs.
Up next: RHP Sandy Alcantara (12-6, 3.68 ERA) starts for the Marlins on Saturday against the Angels’ RHP Walbert Urena (7-7, 2.54).
BALTIMORE — Zach Neto hit a three-run home run to lift the Angels over the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 in the final game of the series on Thursday afternoon.
Wade Meckler singled on a ground ball in the third inning that was overthrown by Orioles starting pitcher Brandon Young at first, advancing him to second. Nolan Schanuel was then walked to set up Neto’s 411-foot homer that went over the center-field wall.
Schanuel hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh for Meckler to score the fourth run of the game.
Angels pitcher Mitch Farris (1-3) entered the game in the fifth inning in relief of starter Ryan Johnson. Farris pitched one inning, struck out two and walked one. Johnson pitched the first 4 2/3, where he walked five and struck out one. He gave up three hits and one earned run. Samy Natera Jr. earned his second save after striking out two in the final 1 1/3 innings.
Yohel Pozo hit a solo home run in the third for the only run for the Orioles. It was his first in an Oriole uniform since coming to Baltimore after getting claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals in July.
Young (8-3) pitched 4 1/3 innings in the loss, giving up six hits. He struck out four and walked two.
Up next
The Angels have not yet named a starter for Friday as they kick off a three-game series at Miami. The Marlins will start RHP Tyler Phillips (3-5, 3.53 ERA).
BALTIMORE — Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo hit successive homers in the fourth inning, Trevor Rogers took a two-hitter into the seventh and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Angels5-2 Wednesday night.
Despite unloading several key players before Monday’s trade deadline, the Orioles remain in the thick of the AL wild-card race after winning the first two games of this series against the last-place Angels.
Baltimore (56-58) will seek to complete a three-game sweep on Thursday. With a victory, the Orioles will move within a game of .500 for the first time since April 30.
It’s a surprising scenario for a team that traded catcher Adley Rutschman, outfielder Taylor Ward and pitchers Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer.
Angels starter Reid Detmers (3-8) issued a one-out walk to Gunnar Henderson in the fourth before O’Neill ripped a fastball far over the left-field wall — his ninth homer of the season and second in two days.
Mayo followed with a shot to the same vicinity, only slightly farther at an estimated 436 feet.
Leody Taveras tacked on a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth to help seal the Orioles’ 17th win in 27 games.
Rogers (7-7) was lifted after giving up a leadoff single in the seventh. He gave up two runs, had a season-high nine strikeouts and walked none.
Alex Hoppe, obtained from Boston in the trade for Rutschman, took over and yielded a pinch-hit RBI single to Wade Meckler that got the Angels within 3-2.
Yennier Cano worked the eighth and Andrew Kittredge got three out for his fifth save.
Jose Siri homered for the Angels, who have lost 10 of 12.
BALTIMORE — Pete Alonso hit a two-run single, Tyler O’Neill had his third pinch-hit homer of the season, and the trade-depleted Baltimore Orioles beat the Angels 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Cade Povich pitched six scoreless innings in his first start in nearly three months for the Orioles, who traded Adley Rutschman, Taylor Ward, Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer at the deadline but remain in contention for a wild-card playoff berth.
Christian Franklin made his major league debut, starting in Ward’s former spot in left field, and scored on Alonso’s third-inning single against former Oriole Grayson Rodriguez (3-4).
O’Neill pinch-hit for leadoff batter Dylan Beavers in the eighth inning against Mitch Farris and connected for his eighth homer of the season. That restored Baltimore’s two-run lead after the Angels got within 2-1 in the top half on Vaughn Grissom’s RBI double against Andrew Kittredge.
Yennier Cano worked the ninth for his second save. Baltimore (55-58) moved within 1 1/2 games of Cleveland for the final AL wild-card spot but is one of several teams sitting a few games under .500.
Sidelined since early May with left elbow inflammation, Povich gave up seven hits, struck out seven and walked one while throwing 88 pitches, 60 for strikes. The Orioles’ trade of Kremer to the Twins opened up a spot in their starting rotation.
The Angels had 11 hits but went one for 12 with runners in scoring position.
Rodriguez pitched a season-high seven innings, giving up two runs and three hits to lower his ERA to 7.24. The Orioles traded him to the Angels in the offseason for Ward, who was shipped to Seattle at the deadline.
We could talk about Sept. 30, 1984, the date Mike Witt threw the Angels’ lone perfect game. Or June 9, 2009, the date the Angels drafted the best player in franchise history, Mike Trout. Or July 29, 2018, the date Vladimir Guerrero became the first player to wear an Angels cap on a Hall of Fame plaque.
Or, if you care to look at it from a cynical angle, that fateful fall day in 1979 when then-general manager Buzzie Bavasi said he could replace Nolan Ryan, who had just gone 16-14 in his final year in Anaheim, with “two 8-7 pitchers.”
This isn’t about trivia. This is to say that Monday might well be remembered as one of those significant dates in Angels history.
In recent years, the Angels have deluded themselves and their fans with such beliefs as: they had assembled a young core that could win; Shohei Ohtani really wanted to stay; and the universally and consistently poor rankings of their minor-league system should be dismissed.
On Monday, John Mozeliak changed all that. The Angels’ interim general manager traded seven players off the major-league roster ahead of the trade deadline, including five within the final nine hours. Mozeliak imported nine prospects, only one of which will report to the major-league team.
It was one thing for owner Arte Moreno and new team president Molly Jolly to recruit Mozeliak six weeks ago and promise that he could embark on a desperately overdue rebuild.
To see it actually come to fruition? Maybe there really are Angels in the outfield.
“What’s really impressive for me is just the amount of trust I’ve been granted,” Mozeliak said.
The Angels finished in last place last year, and the year before that. They are on pace to lose 100 games this season, for the first time in franchise history. Their postseason drought is about to hit 12 years, the longest in baseball.
But now there is a plan, not just a bunch of ifs and hopes, even if the Angels might have to take another step back to take two steps forward.
“I would say we took a step forward today,” Mozeliak said on a videoconference after the trade deadline passed.
Prospects! Tell me more!
Arjun Nimmala takes part in batting practice for the Toronto Blue Jays on July 14, 2023.
(Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images)
The only top-50 prospect the Angels acquired: shortstop Arjun Nimmala, 20. The Toronto Blue Jays swapped him and two other minor leaguers for pitcher José Soriano. Mozeliak said Nimmala is about two years from the majors.
The only prospect coming to the majors: catcher/designated hitter Moises Ballesteros, whom Mozeliak said would DH in two of the next three games.
That means Jorge Soler won’t be the DH for the moment. Who was traded?
Soriano, outfielder Jo Adell, catcher Logan O’Hoppe and relievers Ryan Zeferjahn, Brent Suter, Kirby Yates and Chase Silseth. All but Suter and Yates were under the Angels’ control beyond this season.
And who was not traded?
In addition to Soler, pitcher Reid Detmers and shortstop Zach Neto (“We definitely listened to offers, but we were not comfortable with the offers we received”) and first baseman Nolan Schanuel (“He was asked about, but not to the level of others”).
Mozeliak had said last month that a Trout trade was “not happening.” He said Monday that he had invited Trout to observe the team’s war room ahead of the trade deadline.
“He’s the face of this franchise,” Mozeliak said. “From where I stand, from being around him, we want to get this better for him, and for others. Our fans want to see winning.”
Mozeliak had said the Angels should not need a total rebuild because the resources available to a major-market team should mitigate the need to tank and just play kids. Does he believe the Angels could be better next season?
Hear it from him: “We need to remain disciplined and patient to a process and not just try to rush some people to the big leagues. … If they’re not ready, and we’re not ready to compete with that group, that’s where we’re going to augment using more of the free-agent model.”
This is starting to sound like a long-term plan. Is Mozeliak here for the long-term, as most inside the industry believe he is?
Mozeliak insists he hasn’t decided if he wants to stay, and he hasn’t yet met with Moreno and Jolly to discuss the matter. But he said two things that stuck out to me.
One: “It’s fun being back in the game. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
Two: “We have made a difference. Change has been real.”
Walbert Ureña pitched three-hit ball over six innings and Wade Meckler hit a two-run homer off Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski as the Angels beat the Brewers 3-0 on Sunday.
Ureña (7-7) struck out seven and walked three as the Angels (43-69) broke a five-game losing streak. The rookie right-hander has a 2.54 ERA and a 2.25 ERA since May 1, a stretch in which he has given up one or fewer earned runs in 12 of 16 starts.
Angels reliever Ryan Zeferjahn replaced the injured Sam Bachman with a runner on second and one out in the eighth. He struck out Brice Turang, gave up an infield single to Jackson Chourio and struck out Garrett Mitchell with runners on first and third to end the inning.
Zeferjahn then struck out two of four batters in the ninth for his fourth save.
Misiorowski (11-5) gave up two hits in seven innings, striking out 10 and walking one. Misiorowski extended his franchise record of double-digit strikeout games to 10 while throwing 66 of his 83 pitches for strikes.
The game was a matchup of two of the hardest throwing starters in baseball. Misiorowski and Ureña each struck out the side on 10 pitches in the first and the pair combined to throw 10 pitches at 100 mph or more.
Vaughn Grissom hit a 91-mph slider to center for a leadoff single, and Meckler followed by driving a 95-mph cutter 388 feet to right for his third homer of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Misiorowski then retired 16 straight batters before issuing a two-out walk to Jo Adell in the seventh.
The Angels added an insurance run off Brewers left-hander DL Hall in the eighth when Denzer Guzman walked, took second on a groundout, third on a wild pitch and scored on Zach Neto’s two-out RBI infield single.
Up next: The Angels have not named a starter for when they open a series in Baltimore on Tuesday. The Orioles have not named a starter.
Brice Turang and Jake Bauers powered a five-run fifth inning with home runs, Shane Drohan struck out seven in six innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Angels 6-2 on Friday night.
Drohan (6-4) gave up two runs on four hits and walked one while delivering his fifth straight start of six innings or more for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who have won nine of 13 games.
Milwaukee reliever Grant Anderson threw a one-two-three seventh and got the first out of the eighth, Abner Uribe retired two batters in the eighth, and closer Trevor Megill retired the side in order with a strikeout in the ninth.
Starter Ryan Johnson (2-6) gave up five runs and six hits in 4⅓ innings for the Angels (42-68), who have lost four straight, seven of eight and 19 of 24.
Milwaukee (68-41) took a 1-0 lead in the second when Bauers and Garrett Mitchell singled and No. 9 batter Cooper Pratt dunked a two-out RBI single to shallow left.
Pratt led off the fifth with a walk and Turang, the leadoff man who leads major league second basemen in OPS (.834), doubles (25), RBIs (68), runs (71) and walks (61), drove an inside cutter from Johnson 398 feet over the wall in left-center for his 16th homer and a 3-0 lead.
Jackson Chourio singled, William Contreras walked with one out, and Johnson was pulled in favor of Angels right-hander Jose Fermin. Bauers then crushed a three-run homer to right, the ball leaving his bat at 110 mph and traveling 424 feet, for a 6-0 lead.
The Halos trimmed the deficit to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth when Vaughn Grissom singled and Denzer Guzman drove an opposite-field, two-run homer to right-center, his fifth of the season.
Up next: Brewers LHP Robert Gasser (3-4, 4.71 ERA) will oppose Angels RHP Jose Soriano (9-6, 3.29 ERA) on Saturday night.
The deal, announced a few minutes before the Angels’ series finale against the Houston Astros, could mark the beginning of an extensive rebuilding process for the Angels, who entered play Wednesday with an American League-worst 42-66 record and 13 1/2 games behind the Rangers in the AL West.
“We know we have to start shaking up this roster, and today was day one,” Angels interim general manager John Mozeliak said. “Clearly, where the Angels are at right now, we need to do things differently.”
Silseth, 26, was one of the Angels’ top relievers, going 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA in 47 games this year. O’Hoppe, 26, appeared in 75 games, batting .209 with 23 RBIs.
Arredondo, 19, hit .247 with eight home runs, 15 doubles and 47 RBIs in 86 games for low-A Hickory this season. He signed with the Rangers as an international free agent out of Mexico in 2024.
Cam Smith gave Houston the lead with a two-run double in the sixth inning, Yainer Diaz and Jeremy Peña hit solo homers and the Astros beat the Angels 7-4 on Wednesday night for a three-game sweep.
Houston right-hander Hayden Wesneski, making his first start in almost 15 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2025, gave up three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking two, to earn the win. Bryan Abreu got the final four outs for his seventh save.
Wesneski (1-0) survived a three-run, four-hit first to blank the Angels on three hits over the next 4 2/3 innings to help the Astros win for the eighth time in nine games and reach .500 (55-55) for the first time since April 7, when they were 6-6. Houston also pulled within a game of first-place Texas in the American League West.
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez gave up two runs and five hits in five innings, striking out six and walking two, for the Angels, who lost for the 18th time in 23 games.
Vaughn Grissom’s two-run double and Jo Adell’s RBI single gave the Angels a 3-0 lead in the first. Homers by Diaz in the second and Peña in the third trimmed the deficit to 3-2.
Rodriguez retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth innings, but with his pitch count at 98, he was replaced by left-hander Mitch Farris (0-3) to start the sixth.
Tyler Trammell walked with one out, Diaz singled and Smith lined a two-run double into the left-field corner for a 4-3 Houston lead. Smith took third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch for a 5-3 lead.
Houston pushed the lead to 6-3 in the seventh when Altuve singled and scored from first on Diaz’s bloop single to shallow right field. Adell hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth for the Angels, and Houston scored on an error in the ninth.
From Joaquin Ruiz: Dominic Canzone’s go-ahead home run in the eighth spoiled a Tuesday night of leaderboard climbing for Max Muncy and Shohei Ohtani as the Mariners beat the Dodgers 7-6 in the first game at Dodger Stadium since before the All-Star break on July 12.
With one out, Julio Rodríguez on first and the score tied at five, Canzone got all of Alex Vesia’s 82-mph slider, sending it 414 feet to center to help lift Seattle to its first win over the Dodgers in five years and first in Los Angeles since June 28, 2009.
“I mean it’s a pitch that’s had different results,” Vesia said. “Obviously it’s not the best pitch. I would have liked to have it more outside or more down. Kind of just flush it and on to the next one. Clearly need to be better in that situation. I felt like my stuff was good after that.”
Added manager Dave Roberts: “Alex made a really bad pitch, [an] 0-1 slider that was middle-middle, and they were hitting the ball out of the ballpark. So, that’s kind of the tale of the run prevention tonight.”
The Dodgers (67-40), with some much-needed help from dubious Mariners fielding, did have Ohtani on third and Muncy on second as the tying and game-winning runs in the ninth. But Seattle reliever Andrés Muñoz survived, putting an end to the thrilling opener of this three-game series.
Seattle won the offensive slugfest with 10 hits and five home runs to the home team’s 13 hits and two homers.
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Angels fall to the Astros
Yordan Alvarez homered and hit a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 3-2 win over the Angels on Tuesday night.
Christian Walker added a solo homer while Houston relievers Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan Abreu, Steven Okert and Josh Hader combined for four hitless innings. Okert (4-1) threw a scoreless eighth to earn the win and Hader threw a four-pitch ninth for his 14th save.
The Astros won for the seventh time in eight games to remain two games behind Texas in the American League West. The last-place Angels have lost 17 of 22 games.
From Steve Galluzzo: On a night when a franchise legend had her jersey raised to the rafters, the Sparks played with inspiration and determination but were unable to snap their losing streak, falling to the New York Liberty 113-109 on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.
Down 11 with 3:30 left, the Sparks pulled to within 112-109 on Nneka Ogwumike’s three-pointer with 15 seconds left, but Breanna Stewart sank the second of two free throws with 13.9 seconds left to ice it for New York (16-12).
Despite the absence of leading scorer Kelsey Plum, who is averaging 23.9 points a game but has been sidelined with a lower leg injury since the teams’ prior meeting June 25, the Sparks had a balanced attack with six players in double figures.
Rae Burrell led the charge with 24 points, Ogwumike added 21 points and nine assists, Erica Wheeler had 17 points and nine assists, Ariel Atkins had 16, Dearica Hamby had 12 and Cameron Brink had 11 for the Sparks, who squandered a chance to inch a half game in front of Portland for fifth place in the WNBA’s Western Conference. The Fire (11-17) lost to Las Vegas earlier Tuesday.
“I’m proud of my team — we were active and connected,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “We scored 30 points off of 18 turnovers, we made more field goals than them and we had 35 assists, which is a franchise record. We just didn’t get rewarded with a win.”
The USC coach should’ve been used to weathering pressure by that point. After all, his previous four seasons spent coaching the Trojans had been nothing short of a powder keg, filled with ups and downs, as well as a constant undercurrent of tension and uncertainty. But in this particular case, success was out of Riley’s control. He wasn’t even near a football field.
Rather, he was sitting in the audience of a local dance recital, waiting on his two young daughters, Sloan and Stella, who were each making their solo dancing debut with their company.
“This was the first year, stepping out on their own, no one else to rely on,” Riley said. “But they told me, ‘Dad, we’ve got it.’”
Entering his fifth and most pivotal season yet at USC, their father can relate to that sentiment. While the spotlight burns brighter than ever and the collective college football world is spinning 2026 as a make-or-break moment for Riley, the coach had never sounded so confident that his Trojans had turned a corner than he did Tuesday.
“I’ve felt the pressure to win every single year here,” Riley said during Big Ten media days. “What does feel different is that I think our opportunity to do that is greater than what it has been. It just flat out is. The things you need to win, we have more of than we had in the first four years.”
1751 — The first International World Title Prize Fight takes place in Harlston, England. The champion, Jack Slack of England, beats the challenger, M. Petit of France, in 25 minutes.
1934 — Paul Runyan beats Craig Wood on the 38th hole to win the PGA Championship at Park Country Club in Williamsville, N.Y.
1956 — Cathy Cornelius wins a playoff over Barbara McIntyre to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
1957 — At the Polo Grounds in New York, Floyd Patterson TKOs Tommy Jackson at 1:52 of the 10th round to retain the heavyweight title.
1960 — The first American Football League preseason game is played in Buffalo, N.Y. The Boston Patriots, led by quarterback Butch Songin, beat the Bills 28-7 before 16,474 fans at War Memorial Stadium.
1979 — Amy Alcott shoots a 7-under 285 to beat Nancy Lopez in the Peter Jackson Classic, later named The du Maurier Classic. The du Maurier is one of the LPGA Tour’s major championships from 1979-2000.
1986 — The U.S. Football League wins and loses in its lawsuit against the NFL. The jury finds the NFL violated antitrust laws, as the USFL claimed, but awards the USFL only $1 in damages.
1989 — Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor becomes the first person to high jump 8 feet, breaking his world record at the Caribbean Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He surpasses his mark of 7-11½.
1990 — Beth Daniel shoots a 66 to overcome a 5-shot deficit and win the LPGA Championship — her first major title in 12 years on the tour. Daniel beats Rosie Jones by one stroke and pockets $150,000, the largest in LPGA Tour history.
1992 — The U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team wins the gold medal, with Matt Biondi and Tom Jager becoming the first U.S. male swimmers to win golds in three Olympics.
1996 — Michael Johnson sweeps to victory in an Olympic 400-meter record 43.49 seconds, while Carl Lewis leaps into history in Atlanta. Lewis’ long jump of 27 feet, 10¾ inches earns him his ninth gold medal, equaling the American mark held by swimmer Mark Spitz.
2001 — Copa América Final, Estadio El Campín, Bogotá: Defender Iván Córdoba scores winner as home team Columbia edge Mexico, 1-0.
2008 — Disgraced ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy admits he brought shame on his profession as a federal judge sentenced him to 15 months behind bars for a gambling scandal.
2012 — Kimberly Rhode wins the Olympic gold medal in women’s skeet shooting, becoming the first American to take an individual-sport medal in five consecutive Olympics.
2012 — Dana Vollmer of the U.S. sets a world record to win the 100-meter butterfly at the London Olympics. Vollmer hits the wall in 55.98 seconds to shave 0.08 off the mark set by Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden at the 2009 world championships in Rome.
2015 — Russia’s Natalya Ishchenko wins a record 18th career synchronized swimming gold medal at the world championships at Kazan, Russia.
2021 — Sunisa Lee wins the women’s all-around gymnastics gold medal in Tokyo.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1908 — Rube Waddell struck out 16, sending the St. Louis Browns past the Philadelphia A’s 5-4.
1911 — Joe Wood of the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns with a 5-0 no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader. Wood fanned 12 and allowed three baserunners on two walks and a hit batsman.
1915 — Honus Wagner, 41, became the oldest player to hit a grand slam as Pittsburgh beat Brooklyn 8-2. The grand slam was an inside-the-park homer. Wagner remained the record holder until 1985, when Tony Perez hit one the day before his 43rd birthday.
1928 — The Cleveland Indians scored eight runs in the first inning and nine more in the second and went on to beat the New York Yankees 24-6 at Dunn Field. Johnny Hodapp singled twice in the second and sixth innings.
1936 — The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 22-7 in the first game of a doubleheader, then lost the second game 5-4.
1955 — Smoky Burgess of the Cincinnati Reds hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in a 16-5 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field.
1968 — George Culver of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a 6-1 no-hitter against the Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader at Philadelphia.
1983 — Steve Garvey of the San Diego Padres ended his NL record of 1,207 consecutive games played. The streak ended when he dislocated his thumb in a collision with Atlanta pitcher Pascual Perez while trying to score.
2000 — Eddie Taubensee hit a tying homer with two out in the ninth and homered again in the 11th to lead Cincinnati to a 4-3 win over Montreal.
2001 — Craig Monroe homered in his first major league at-bat, and the Texas Rangers beat Tampa Bay 2-0.
2003 — Boston’s Bill Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three homers in a 14-7 win at Texas.
2006 — Tomas Perez tied a major league record with four doubles, going 5-for-5 and leading the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to a 19-6 rout of the New York Yankees.
2010 — Anibal Sanchez pitched a one-hitter, leading the Florida Marlins past the San Francisco Giants 5-0. Sanchez retired his first 13 batters and matched a career high with eight strikeouts.
2018 — The Hall of Fame inducts one of the largest classes in its history. Honored are Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, Chipper Jones, Jack Morris, Jim Thome and Alan Trammell.
2022 — Aaron Judge hits two more homers in leading the Yankees to an 11-5 win over the Royals. He now has 41 on the season, tying the American League record for most before the end of July held by Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Ken Griffey Jr. Judge will set a new record with another homer tomorrow.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
The checklist to launch an independent minor league baseball team is long and daunting. Can you find a place to play? How do you find enough players, and make enough money to pay them? How can you persuade a community to support a home team?
Here’s a new one: If minor league baseball is all about affordability, how do you compete against a nearby major league team that might undercut you on pricing?
This astounding dilemma is brought to you by the Angels, and their combination of a consistent focus on affordability and a consistently bad team.
Zach Neto is the best player the Angels have drafted and developed since Mike Trout — that is, in the past 17 years — and the team is considering whether to trade Neto ahead of next week’s trade deadline. That might make the team better in the long run, but almost certainly not next year.
And, next year, the Angels will have competition for the Orange County baseball dollar, a few exits down Interstate 5. On Tuesday, the Irvine City Council approved a five-year agreement under which a yet-to-be-named minor league team would play at the sparkling ballpark within the city’s Great Park, starting next May.
“We might not, on certain days, be the cheapest ticket in town,” said Paul Freedman, co-founder of Innovation Baseball Partners, the company for which the Irvine team is the fourth in its portfolio of minor league teams, all based in California and all competing in the Pioneer League, where players are limited to no more than two years of professional experience.
No ticket prices have been announced for the Irvine team. Jamie Rosenberg, another IBP co-founder, told the Irvine City Council that the IBP team in Long Beach charges roughly $10 to $15 for general admission, with a $2 special every Tuesday.
“The idea is to make this an accessible, affordable entertainment option for the community,” Rosenberg said.
Angels pitcher Reid Detmers throws from the mound against the Houston Astros in front of a sparse crowd Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
(Scott Strazzante / Associated Press)
On Tuesday, three hours after Rosenberg spoke, the Angelsplayed the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium. On StubHub, you could buy a ticket for $2.
“I think Angel fans would hope the team gets better and maybe those prices would go up,” Freedman said, “but what we’re confident in is that we’re going to have a value experience.”
On Tuesday and every other day at Angel Stadium, the Angels proudly display a sign advertising a collection of what the team calls its “family value merchandise.” A T-shirt or a cap can be yours for $9.99, and a souvenir baseball with the team logo sells for $7.99.
“We really focus on a family of four,” Freedman said. “Can a family of four afford a night out?”
The Angels offer a family package — four tickets, four hot dogs, and four drinks — for $44.
You may remember what Angels owner Arte Moreno said in spring training: “The number one thing fans want is affordability.”
That infuriated Angels fans, of course, since their team has baseball’s longest playoff drought — 12 years, counting this one. Freedman says the fans of his teams want affordability too, but he cautioned against stretching the comparison too far.
For one, Trout plays in Anaheim. You can see a future Hall of Famer there all summer, and stars from around the league, and you can see the Yankees and Red Sox and Dodgers every year.
“We’re not ever going to replace the majesty of going to see the Dodgers with Shohei [Ohtani] playing,” Freedman said, “but we can create an environment that’s more fun.”
For two, whatever $2 tickets you might find in Anaheim put you in the vicinity of the top of a foul pole. All the tickets in Irvine put you right behind home plate, because there are barely 1,000 seats.
And, for fun, Freedman and his partners are planning to become the first American team to integrate elements of the Asian fan experience into the game presentation.
“We want to be doing things you haven’t seen in an American baseball game before,” he said, “and we want to put a fair price on that, one that is reasonable and allows us to operate our business.”
The traditional minor league team operates far from the shadow of a major league team. The Pioneer League, for instance, has teams in the California towns of Modesto and Marysville, and in Idaho Falls and Missoula, Mont.
The Irvine launch will be different and challenging — and, yes, fun. But success depends on paying customers, and nothing attracts customers like a trial offer.
Yordan Alvarez homered and hit a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 3-2 win over the Angels on Tuesday night.
Christian Walker added a solo homer while Houston relievers Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan Abreu, Steven Okert and Josh Hader combined for four hitless innings. Okert (4-1) threw a scoreless eighth to earn the win and Hader threw a four-pitch ninth for his 14th save.
The Astros won for the seventh time in eight games to remain two games behind Texas in the American League West. The last-place Angels have lost 17 of 22 games.
Nick Allen started the winning rally with a pinch-hit double off Angels left-hander Mitch Farris (0-2). Christian Vázquez flared a one-out single to shallow right, advancing Allen to third. After Jeremy Peña struck out, Alvarez lined a single to right-center.
Angels left-hander Reid Detmers gave up two runs and four hits in five innings, striking out nine and walking none. Astros right-hander Peter Lambert gave up two runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out six and walking one.
Alvarez drove a first-pitch fastball from Detmers 427 feet to right for his major league-leading 35th homer in the first.
The Angels tied it in the third on Vaughn Grissom’s RBI single to left.
Walker’s 21st homer, a 411-foot shot to left, gave Houston a 2-1 lead in the fourth. But the Angels tied it 2-2 in the fifth when Mike Trout singled and scored from first on Jorge Soler’s double down the left-field line.
Grissom singled to put runners on first and third, but Lambert struck out Wade Meckler to end the inning.
LaMonte Wade Jr. drew a bases-loaded walk that forced home the go-ahead run in a four-run ninth inning, and the Houston Astros came back to beat the Angels 6-4 on Monday night.
The Astros rallied on a hit, two walks, two errors and two hit batters to hand the Angels (42-65) their ninth loss this season when leading after eight innings.
Houston (53-55) trailed 4-0 after three, but Taylor Trammell homered for a second straight game and the fifth time this season to cut it to 4-1 in the fourth.
Jeremy Peña doubled leading off the eighth against Ryan Zeferjahn, extending his hitting streak to nine games. Yordan Alvarez hit an RBI single to make it 4-2.
José Fermin (3-2) hit Trammell with a pitch leading off the ninth. Christian Walker singled and Trammell scored to make it 4-3 when second baseman Vaughn Grissom let Lucas Spence’s potential double-play grounder go through his legs for a costly error.
Sam Bachman entered and got an out before walking Alvarez intentionally to load the bases. Bachman grazed Isaac Paredes with a pitch to tie it, and Wade walked to give Houston the lead. Alvarez scored the final run when Jose Altuve reached on a fielding error by Bachman.
Tatsuya Imai didn’t make it out of the first inning for the third time this season in a start for Houston. He gave up a sacrifice fly to Nolan Schanuel and an RBI single to Grissom before AJ Blubaugh came in to get the final out of the inning.
Grissom hit his seventh homer — off Blubaugh — and Jo Adell blooped an RBI double to make it 4-0 in the third.
Cristian Javier (1-1) followed Blubaugh and struck out seven over five shutout innings for the win. Josh Hader walked two in the ninth before earning his 13th save.
Angels starter Walbert Ureña gave up a run on two hits in six innings and left with a 4-1 lead. Fermin got one out and was charged with three runs — one earned.
Up next: Astros RHP Peter Lambert (8-5, 3.03 ERA) starts Tuesday against Angels LHP Reid Detmers (3-7, 4.05).
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Trout had his first four-hit game in more than five years, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell homered and the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Sunday to snap a three-game skid and avoid a series sweep.
Angels starter José Soriano (9-6) allowed an unearned run in five innings. The 27-year-old right-hander gave up three hits, walked three and had five strikeouts. Mitch Farris got the final two outs for his first career save.
San Francisco, which had its four-game home win streak snapped, is the only team in MLB without a series sweep of three-plus games this season.
Trout’s first four-hit game since April 26, 2021, moved him past Tim Salmon on the Angels’ career doubles and singles lists. He went four for four with a double and three singles.
Trout’s double was his 340th, moving past Salmon for second on the franchise list behind Garret Anderson’s 489. Trout also is now fourth on the Angels’ all-time list with 1,014 singles, trailing Anderson (1,572), Darin Erstad (1,082) and Brian Downing (1,062).
Trout’s four-hit game was the 21st of his career and raised his average to .247.
Soler hit a leadoff homer, Nolan Schanuel walked and Adell’s 446-foot home run gave the Angels a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Luis Arraez had an RBI groundout in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth for the Giants. Drew Cavanaugh went two for two and walked twice.
Carson Whisenhunt (2-1), who was recalled from triple-A Sacramento, gave up four runs and had seven strikeouts in five innings.
Up next for the Angels: RHP Walbert Ureña (6-7, 2.78 ERA) starts Tuesday in the opener of a three-game home series against Houston. The Astros have not named a starter.
SAN FRANCISCO — Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee hit three-run homers, Robbie Ray pitched six shutout innings and the San Francisco Giants beat the Angels 9-2 on Saturday.
Devers and Casey Schmitt opened the scoring with RBI singles in the third before Lee lined a sweeper 365 feet into the right-field stands to extend the Giants’ lead to 5-0.
Luis Arraez added a one-run single in the fourth, and Devers extended the lead to 9-0 with his team-leading 22nd homer of the season. The homer was Devers’ third since the All-Star break and second in as many days.
Ray (9-6) struck out five and gave up six hits on just 80 pitches before being lifted. Over his last seven games, the 34-year-old left-hander has thrown 43⅓ innings with a 1.04 ERA and a 4-0 record.
Ryan Johnson (2-5) gave up eight runs on eight hits in 3⅓ innings for the Angels. Catcher Tyler Heineman pitched a hitless inning of relief.
Mike Trout drove in Los Angeles’ first run with a bases-loaded, RBI double play in the seventh. Trout, Zach Neto and Jo Adell were all pulled because of the score. Jose Siri was walked in the ninth inning, capping the scoring.
Up next: Angels’ RHP José Soriano (8-6, 3.43 ERA) faces Giants’ LHP Carson Whisenhunt (2-0, 3.38 ERA) in the series finale Sunday.
SAN FRANCISCO — Rafael Devers homered in his first at-bat and hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning to give the San Francisco Giants a 7-6 victory over the Angels on Friday night.
Casey Schmitt also homered and Luis Arraez had two hits to help the Giants end a five-game losing streak. They rallied after blowing leads of 5-1 and 6-4.
Bryce Eldridge doubled, walked and scored twice while Drew Gilbert added two hits for the Giants.
Vaughn Grissom had two hits for the Angels, including a tying two-run home run in the eighth inning.
Pinch-runner Jesus Rodriguez began the 10th at second base and advanced to third on Arraez’s soft single to left. After Heliot Ramos grounded out, Bryce Eldridge walked before Devers hit a deep fly to left off Chase Silseth (3-2) that bounced on the warning track and landed in the stands.
Devers’ winning hit came moments after the Giants got a big defensive play out of center fielder Grant McCrary in the top of the 10th.
McCrary, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the ninth, caught Wade Meckler’s fly ball in the top of the ninth then made a strong throw to third to get Grissom for an inning-ending double play.
Caleb Kilian (3-6) retired three batters for the victory.
San Francisco’s walk-off win came after the Giants bullpen spoiled Logan Webb’s chance at winning for the first time in nearly a month. Webb allowed four runs and six hits with four strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
Devers got San Francisco (43-60) going with an opposite field two-run home run in the first inning. Schmitt added a three-run blast in the third after the Angels (41-63) issued a two-out intentional walk to Devers.
Both home runs came against Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez.
Up next: Giants LHP Robbie Ray (8-6, 3.33 ERA) was set to face Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (2-4, 6.10) on Saturday.
Hunter Dobbins scattered six hits over six innings, JJ Wetherholt hit a home run in the sixth and the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 1-0 victory over the Angels on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.
Dobbins, recalled from triple-A Memphis for Wednesday’s start, struck out five and walked none to help St. Louis snap a four-game losing streak and end the Angels’ three-game win streak.
Luis Gastelum threw a scoreless seventh, George Soriano had a 1-2-3 eighth and closer Riley O’Brien struck out Oswald Peraza with an 80-mph sweeper and Josh Lowe with a 98-mph sinker with two on in the ninth for his 26th save.
Dobbins (2-1) escaped a first-and-third, two-out jam in the second, a two-on, one-out jam in the third and a first-and-third, two-out jam in the fourth.
That inning ended with Cardinals third baseman Blaze Jordan reaching into the third-base dugout to snag Tyler Heineman’s popup.
Angels starter Reid Detmers (3-7), expected to be a top target of contenders looking to acquire starting pitching before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, blanked the Cardinals on one hit through five innings despite walking two to open the fifth.
The left-hander escaped the fifth with the help of third baseman Vaughn Grissom, who made a backhand diving stop of José Fermín’s grounder, scrambled to the bag for a forceout and threw to first to complete a double play.
Jordan struck out to end the inning.
But with one out in the sixth inning, Detmers (3-7) left a fastball up to Wetherholt, who lined his 15th homer of the season over the wall in center field to break the tie and knock Detmers out of the game.
Up next: Cardinals RHP Michael McGreevy (4-7, 2.92 ERA) will oppose Arizona RHP Brandon Pfaadt (4-1, 4.58 ERA) Thursday night in St. Louis. For the Angels, RHP Grayson Rodriguez (3-3, 8.23 ERA) will face Giants RHP Logan Webb (5-7, 3.87 ERA) Friday night in San Francisco.
Walbert Ureña pitched six innings of one-run ball, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell each drove in two runs in a five-run first inning and the Angels extended their winning streak to three games with a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
The Angels banged out five of their 10 hits in the first inning. Soler hit a two-run double and Adell added a two-run homer for the Angels, who have their longest winning streak since a four-game run from June 9-13.
Ureña (6-7) allowed up six hits, struck out five and walked one while lowering his ERA to 2.78 for the season and 2.49 in 14 starts since May 1. Making his first start since the All-Star break, the rookie right-hander threw 16 pitches of 100 mph or more, including hitting a season-high 101.5-mph sinker to Jordan Walker, in the first. He had thrown 16 pitches of 100 mph or more — total — in 81 1/3 innings of his first 17 games.
St. Louis, which has lost 10 of its last 14 games, scored its only run on JJ Wetherholt’s RBI fielder’s-choice grounder in the fifth.
Angels reliever Mitch Farris struck out two in 1 1/3 innings. Chase Silseth got the final two outs in the eighth, and Ryan Zeferjahn struck out three of five batters in a scoreless ninth.
Angels leadoff man Zach Neto opened the bottom of the first with a single and was thrown out trying to take third on Mike Trout’s single to left.
Nolan Schanuel walked, and Soler hit a two-run double to left. Vaughn Grissom’s RBI single pushed the lead to 3-0, and Adell hit is 15th homer — a two-run shot — to make it 5-0.
St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore (5-7) recovered from the rocky first and held the Angels to four hits over the next 4 1/3 innings.
Up next
Cardinals RHP Hunter Dobbins (11, 4.03 ERA) will oppose Angels LHP Reid Detmers (3-6, 4.16) on Wednesday.
ESPN’s 30 for 30 will launch the first two of six podcast episodes July 28 examining the gambling scandal that resulted in Shohei Ohtani‘s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara going to prison for stealing nearly $17 million from the baseball superstar and gambling it away.
The podcast, titled “The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani” is told by Tisha Thompson, the ESPN investigative reporter who led the outlet’s groundbreaking coverage in March 2024.
The podcast will recount Mizuhara’s life before he began working for Ohtani in 2013 when both were with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan. When Ohtani moved to the United States to play for the Angels in 2018, Mizuhara came with him.
Thompson interviews childhood friends and colleagues of Mizuhara, but the interview that will generate the greatest interest is a 90-minute phone call she had with him 16 hours before she published the story. Thompson got permission from Mizuhara to tape the call and it remains the only interview he has given.
Mizuhara told her that Ohtani had helped him pay off his gambling debts, a story he recanted a day later. The Dodgers fired him the same day they opened the 2024 season with a game against the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.
IRS special agent Chris Seymour gave Thompson the first interview of his career, and what he and prosecutors say about Mizuhara’s motive goes beyond the narrative that he had a gambling addiction, according to ESPN.
Another interview by Thompson is with bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who explains on tape that his relationship with Mizuhara began during a hotel poker game with Angels players. Bowyer pleaded guilty last year to running an illegal gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return. He was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution to the IRS.
Episodes one and two — “The Letter O” and “The Interview” — will debut July 28, followed by episodes dropping every Tuesday and Thursday through Aug. 11.
The deeper he wades into the conversation, the deeper Al Michaels is transported back in time, 35 years doing nothing to dull the memory of that warm Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, where the Angels and Boston Red Sox staged one of the most thrilling and head-spinning 75 minutes of October baseball ever.
“To this day, man, I can still feel everything,” Michaels, now 76, said in a recent phone interview. “That freaking game … I mean, the drama from the top of the ninth inning through the bottom of the 11th was just insane.”
Dave Henderson watches the flight of his ninth-inning homer that put Boston ahead of the Angels, 6-5 in Anaheim, Oct. 12, 1986.
(Jim Gerberich / Associated Press)
The Angels rallied to tie it in the bottom of the ninth and had the bases loaded with one out, needing only a sacrifice fly or well-placed grounder to restore the full-throated roar to an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 64,223. Two of their top hitters, Doug DeCinces and Bobby Grich, failed to bring home the winning run.
Boston left fielder Jim Rice made a game-saving catch of a Gary Pettis drive at the wall to end the 10th inning, and Henderson’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 11th gave the Red Sox a 7-6 comeback victory.
The shellshocked Angels barely put up a fight in Games 6 and 7 losses in Fenway Park. Three-and-a-half decades later, however, it’s Game 5 that still eats at the left-hander who got the final out in the top of the 11th inning but had been bypassed for another southpaw for a key at-bat in the ninth.
“You can’t get any closer,” former Angels pitcher Chuck Finley said. “You almost feel like you can touch it. When you have something in your hands, it’s almost like you were pick-pocketed.”
Tuesday, Oct. 12, marks the 35th anniversary of the most devastating loss in Angels history, 3 hours and 54 minutes of twists and turns that played out like a Shakespearean tragedy.
This is a look back at Game 5 through the eyes of a 23-year-old rookie reliever on that team and a Hall-of-Fame broadcaster who ranks the game just behind the “Miracle on Ice,” the U.S. hockey team’s upset of the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics, on his list of greatest sporting events he’s called.
PROLOGUE
The 1986 Angels, managed by 60-year-old Gene Mauch, were an eclectic mix of crusty veterans, eager youngsters and a sprinkling of players in their prime.
Don Sutton (41) was the dean of a rotation that included 25-year-old right-handers Mike Witt and Kirk McCaskill. Terry Forster (34) was the elder in the bullpen. Finley was called up from Class-A Quad Cities in late May and saw a blend of personalities and temperaments that was borderline toxic.
Chuck Finley of the Angels pitches during a game circa 1988 in Anaheim, California.
(Rick Stewart/Getty Images)
“It was almost like a Desperate Housewives for Men the whole year,” said Finley, who lives in Newport Beach and does charity work for the team. “That clubhouse was a mess. Guys were just fighting all the time. There was so much pressure on Gene just to keep that team together.”
Finley recalled the team bus ride in which Moore, angered after being told Mauch had called a workout for an off day, hurled a piece of fruit at the skipper, only to have it splatter on the windshield of the bus. Players could be prickly with the media. And each other.
“It was a mixed bag of nuts,” Finley said. “It was like going to a bar and they give you that bowl. Some are a little sweet, some are a little sour, some are a little salty, but you just keep putting your hands in there and eating it, you know?”
“It was almost like a Desperate Housewives for Men. That clubhouse was a mess.”
— -Chuck Finley
The clubhouse tension, however, did not affect their performance. The Angels went 23-25 in April and May but caught fire in June, going 69-45 over the final four months to finish at 92-70. They sealed the division title with a 21-5 run from Aug. 24 through Sept. 22.
Joyner (.290, 22 homers, 100 RBIs), DeCinces (.256, 26, 96) and Downing (.267, 20, 95) paced the offense. Witt (18-10, 2.84 ERA, 208 strikeouts), McCaskill (17-10, 3.36, 202) and Sutton (15-11, 3.74) led the rotation.
Angels relief pitcher Donnie Moore.
(Charles Bernhardt / Allsport)
Moore fought through shoulder and rib-cage injuries to go 4-5 with a 2.97 ERA and 21 saves in 49 games, and Doug Corbett (4-2, 3.66 ERA in 46 games), Forster (4-1, 3.15 in 41 games) and left-hander Gary Lucas (4-1, 3.15 in 27 games) were reliable in relief.
“Man, once that national anthem was played, it was just true professionalism,” said Finley, who went 3-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 25 games after his summer call-up. “Those guys knew how to win.”
PENNANT FEVER
The Angels closed the season at Texas and flew to Boston to start the ALCS. Two sloppy, half-well-pitched games yielded two lopsided scores. Witt threw a complete game in an 8-1 Game 1 victory, and Red Sox left-hander Bruce Hurst threw one in Boston’s 9-2 Game 2 win.
The series shifted to Anaheim, where the Angels scored three seventh-inning runs in a 5-3 Game 3 victory and rallied in Game 4 for three ninth-inning runs off Roger Clemens, with DeCinces (homer) and Pettis (RBI double) providing the big blows, in a 4-3, 11-inning win.
The Angels were up 3-1 in the series.
A sense of anticipation filled Anaheim Stadium the next day when the teams met at high noon under sunny, 80-degree skies. The Angels started Witt, their best pitcher. Hurst started for the Red Sox on three days’ rest.
But across the 57 Freeway in a St. Joseph’s Hospital bed sat Joyner, the Angels’ rookie-of-the-year candidate who had a staph infection in his right shin and would watch the game on a 19-inch TV. (That was a fairly big size in those days, kids.)
Grich moved from second base to first, and Burleson started at second. The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead when Rich Gedman, their left-handed-hitting catcher, lined a two-run homer just inside the right-field foul pole in the second inning. Boone’s solo shot to left made it 2-1 in the third.
Grich followed DeCinces’ two-out double in the sixth with a drive to deep center, where Henderson, who had replaced injured starter Tony Armas in the fifth, nearly made a leaping catch on the warning track.
But Henderson’s momentum sent him smashing into the fence, and his left arm hit the top of the wall. The ball squirted out of his glove and over the fence for a two-run homer and a 3-2 Angels lead, which Anaheim increased to 5-2 in the seventh on Rob Wilfong’s pinch-hit RBI double and Downing’s sacrifice fly off reliever Bob Stanley.
Witt, meanwhile, was cruising. He took a six-hitter into the ninth with three of the hits — the second-inning homer, a fifth-inning double and seventh-inning single — coming off the bat of Gedman, who was due up fifth in the inning. With that in mind, Mauch had Lucas warming up alongside Moore as the inning began. Lucas had struck out Gedman twice during the season and again the night before.
An interview platform was constructed in the Angels clubhouse. Clear plastic wrapping was draped over each locker to protect against the anticipated fusillade of champagne. Officers on horseback gathered in the bullpen. California Highway Patrol officers manned the dugouts.
In a 1987 story about the game, former Times staff writer Mike Penner wrote that Jackson walked over to congratulate Mauch, who was on the verge of finally shedding his reputation as the best manager to never win a pennant. But Mauch kept staring ahead from the third-base dugout, watching Witt warm up for the ninth.
“It isn’t over yet,” Mauch said quietly.
“It had merely begun,” Penner wrote.
HEARTBREAK HILL
Bill Buckner opened the ninth with a ground-ball single to center, just beyond the reach of a diving Schofield. Dave Stapleton came on to pinch-run. Rice struck out looking.
Up stepped Don Baylor, the former Angels designated hitter who led the team to its first two playoff appearances in 1979 and 1982. Witt thought he struck out Baylor with a 2-and-2 curve on the inside corner, but umpire Rocky Roe called it a ball.
Witt’s full-count offering was another breaking ball, this one down and away, a pitch Witt later said he “would throw him 100 out of 100 times, and I guarantee you he wouldn’t hit a home run.” Baylor yanked it over the left-field fence for a two-run homer to cut the lead to 5-4.
Dwight Evans popped out to third for the second out. Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann went to the mound and raised his left arm to summon Lucas. The crowd groaned. So did a few Angels players.
“When they took Witt out, it was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Finley said. “He was dominating that game. I know Gedman had decent numbers against him, but I thought Witt was on a roll and he’d figure out a way to get through this.”
Lucas had not hit a batter in four seasons. His first pitch rode up and in and hit Gedman on the right hand.
Out came Lachemann again to summon Moore to face Henderson, who hit .196 with one homer and three RBIs in 36 games for Boston after an August trade from Seattle.
Henderson fouled off a pair of 2-and-2 pitches, a split-fingered pitch and fastball. Moore, whose shoulder was so sore he took a cortisone injection after the game, threw another splitter on the outer half, but this one tumbled instead of breaking sharply toward the dirt.
Henderson reached out and swatted a high fly to left. Four steps out of the box, he leaped high into the air. Finley, from the right-field bullpen, had a perfect view of the ball’s flight. He knew from the sound of the bat, the arc of the ball and the atmospheric conditions, this was not good.
“I watched it come off the bat and went, ‘Oh, sh–,’ because it was a day game and the ball flies,” Finley said. “Then I saw [Henderson] jump and went, ‘Uh-oh.’ We’re one strike away from going to the World Series and boom, that ball goes flying out, and that stadium went silent.”
“To this day, man, I can still feel everything,”
— -Al Michaels
Michaels called Henderson’s homer “unbelievable” and “astonishing” on the broadcast. Henderson floated around the bases and was greeted by jubilant teammates in the dugout.
Dave Henderson, left, and Rich Gedman of the Red Sox cheer after Henderson’s ninth-inning homer gave Boston a one-run lead in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS against the Angels.
(Reed Saxon / Associated Press)
“Anaheim Stadium was a strike away from turning into Fantasyland,” Michaels said on the air, “and now the Red Sox lead 6-5!”
Moore got Ed Romero to fly to right to end the inning. A stoic Mauch stood in the dugout, arms folded across his chest, a blank look on his face.
“He looked frozen in time,” Michaels said.
PUSH BACK
The Angels clawed back in the bottom of the ninth. Boone singled and was replaced by pinch-runner Ruppert Jones and was bunted to second by Pettis.
Red Sox manager John McNamara summoned left-hander Joe Sambito to face Wilfong, who singled sharply to right. Jones beat a one-hop throw from the strong-armed Evans with a head-first slide to the back of the plate to tie the score 6-6 and re-spark pandemonium in the stadium.
Angels baserunner Rupert Jones slides safely into home plate under the eyes of Boston Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman in the ninth inning.
(Lennox McLendon / Associated Press)
Wilfong should have advanced on the throw home but froze at first. Right-hander Steve Crawford replaced Sambito and gave up a single to right to Schofield, moving Wilfong to third. Had Wilfong taken second on the play at the plate, he likely would have scored on Schofield’s hit.
Downing was intentionally walked to load the bases to set up a force play at home. That brought DeCinces to the plate. Crawford, who was making his first appearance of the series, was so nervous he couldn’t produce any saliva to spit.
“If there was a toilet on the mound,” Crawford said after the game, “I would have used it.”
Instead, the Angels flushed an opportunity down the drain. DeCinces swung at a first-pitch fastball and flied to shallow right, Wilfong holding at third. Grich hit a soft liner that Crawford snagged to end the inning.
“I got no place to sleep tonight,” Mauch quipped after the game. “I bet my house that DeCinces would get that run in from third.”
Moore escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam in the 10th by getting Rice to ground into a double play. Crawford walked Jerry Narron with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, and the switch-hitting Pettis, with Narron running on a full-count pitch, drove a pitch to deep left.
Pettis had hit a similar ball over Rice’s head during the big ninth-inning rally the previous night, so Rice took a few steps back for this Pettis at-bat. That allowed him to make a leaping, two-hand catch near the top of the wall to rob Pettis of a game-winning double.
“He had to look in his glove to make sure he caught it,” Michaels said. “Narron was running with the 3-2 pitch, and he scores easily if Rice doesn’t catch it.”
Michaels recalled the stadium becoming “eerily quiet” as the 11th inning started.
“If there was a toilet on the mound, I would have used it.”
— Red Sox reliever Steve Crawford
“I remember saying on the air that the crowd is wrung out,” Michaels said. “They had been screaming for 45 minutes and were just wrung out.”
Moore hit Baylor with a pitch to open the 11th. Evans singled to center. Gedman, the unsung hero of the game, popped up a sacrifice-bunt attempt that fell in front of DeCinces for a single to load the bases with no outs.
Henderson’s sacrifice fly to center scored Baylor to give Boston a 7-6 lead. Downing made a leaping catch of Romero’s drive before slamming face-first into the wall for the second out, saving a run, maybe two. Finley replaced Moore and got Wade Boggs to ground out to second to end the inning.
Red Sox closer Calvin Schiraldi struck out Wilfong and Schofield to open the bottom of the 11th, and Downing lofted a fly ball into foul territory near first.
“Popped up … here comes Stapleton,” Michaels said on the broadcast. “Next plane to Boston!”
POSTSCRIPT
The Angels’ team flight to Boston was funereal. “It was mute,” Finley said. “Everybody was staring out the windows going, ‘What happened?’ ”
Angels pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, right, consoles relief pitcher Donnie Moore in the locker room at Fenway Park on Oct. 15, 1986. The Angels lost to the Boston Red Sox in the final game of the ALCS.
(Bob Child / Associated Press)
Run-scoring doubles by Jackson and DeCinces in the first inning of Game 6 provided some hope, which was dashed when Boston scored twice in the bottom of the first and five runs in the third in an eventual 10-4 win.
The Red Sox steamrolled the Angels 8-1 in Game 7 to reach the World Series, where they suffered their own one-strike-away collapse against the New York Mets, when Mookie Wilson’s 10th-inning grounder in Game 6 famously rolled through Buckner’s legs to allow the winning run to score. The Mets won Game 7 two nights later.
The career of Moore, who had a history of alcohol abuse and domestic violence, spiraled in the wake of Game 5. He struggled in two more injury-marred seasons with the Angels and was released by the Royals in 1989.
In July 1989, Moore had an argument with his wife, Tonya, and shot her three times with a .45 pistol in their Anaheim Hills home. While the couple’s 17-year-old daughter drove Tonya to the hospital — she survived — Moore, with two younger sons in the house, put the gun to his head and committed suicide. He was 35.
“He was a great guy, he just had some demons he couldn’t tame,” Finley said of Moore. “It’s sad the way it ended up and the way Donnie’s life ended.”
Orange County Coroner personnel remove the body of former Angels pitcher Donnie Moore from his home in Anaheim on July 18, 1989. Moore shot his wife several times, critically wounding her before turning the gun on himself.
(Alan Greth / Associated Press)
Finley can’t help but wonder if he could have ended Game 5 in the top of the ninth had he been summoned instead of fellow lefty Lucas.
“I think about it all the time,” Finley said. “I don’t know if I would have gotten Gedman out, but I’d like to have had the chance to try. Gary was kind of thumbing it. He was a finesse guy, and I was throwing pretty hard back then. But Gene wanted to go with veterans, so he made what he thought was the book move.”
Finley went on to have a stellar 17-year career, going 200-173 with a 3.85 ERA in 524 games and making five All-Star teams. But he left the Angels to sign with Cleveland in 2000, hoping for a chance to win a championship, two years before the Angels won their only World Series title in 2002.
Finley made seven playoff appearances for the Indians and St. Louis Cardinals in 2001-02 but never reached the World Series.
The closest he would come, it turned out, was with the Angels in 1986.
“I was 23, up from A-ball and one strike away from the World Series — you think it would happen every year,” Finley said. “Then you have a 17-year drought, you’re retired and you don’t have a ring … man, you get that close, it makes you appreciate how hard it is to win one.”
