trey mancini

Trey Mancini hit a two-run triple to give the Angels an early lead, rookie Sam Aldegheri tossed five strong innings, and Ryan Zeferjahn struck out Cedric Mullins with the bases loaded in the ninth in a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

Zeferjahn walked Junior Caminero on four pitches after replacing Mitch Farris with two on and two outs. He struck out Mullins swinging on a 2-and-2 pitch for his second save, sealing the Angels’ third straight win and fourth in five games.

Aldegheri (2-1) gave up two runs (one earned) and three hits with three walks in his second start this season and the seventh of his career.

Mike Trout and Jo Adell had back-to-back, one-out singles off Shane McClanahan (6-4) in the first inning, and Mancini followed with a two-out triple for a 2-0 lead.

Oswald Peraza led off the third with a double, and Nick Madrigal drove him in with a two-out single before stealing second and scoring on Logan O’Hoppe’s single for a 4-0 advantage.

Aldegheri gave up a hit and walked two in the first inning, then retired 10 straight before walking Chandler Simpson to start the fifth. Nick Fortes reached on a fielding error by shortstop Zach Neto, and Taylor Walls’ bunt single loaded the bases with no outs.

Aldegheri struck out Yandy Díaz looking, but Jonathan Aranda singled to left to cut it to 4-2. Caminero hit into a double play to end the rally.

Simpson robbed Adell of a homer in the eighth to keep the Rays within two, and Aranda cut it to 4-3 with a two-out single off Farris before Zeferjahn finished.

McClanahan gave up four runs and eight hits in four innings but struck out seven. Mason Englert pitched four shutout innings and gave up four hits and two walks.

U.S. Navy Captain and NASA Artemis II astronaut Victor Glover threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Trout.

Up next: Rays RHP Griffin Jax (1-4, 4.15) starts Saturday opposite Angels RHP José Soriano (7-4, 2.96).

Angels first baseman Trey Mancini, a cancer survivor and former Baltimore slugger, had three hits in his first major league game since 2023 on Monday night in a 5-4 loss to the Houston Astros in 10 innings.

Mancini delivered a run-scoring single in the second inning in his first at-bat. He singled again leading off the fourth before adding a third single in the eighth.

The Angels selected the contract of Mancini and put him in the lineup at first base against the Astros after putting infielders Vaughn Grissom (left oblique strain) and Adam Frazier (right elbow inflammation) on the 10-day injured list.

Mancini, 34, agreed to a minor league contract with the Angels in February, a deal that included an invitation to major league spring training. Mancini hit .273 with six homers, 29 RBIs and three steals for triple-A Salt Lake this year.

Mancini has batted .263 with 129 homers and 400 RBIs over parts of seven seasons in the majors. He played parts of six seasons with the Orioles and hit a career-high 29 homers in 2019.

Mancini then missed the 2020 season after surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his colon. He made a successful return to the Orioles in 2021, and he won a World Series ring in 2022 after Baltimore traded him to Houston.

He spent part of the 2023 season with the Chicago Cubs. He has since played in the minor league systems of the Reds, Marlins and Diamondbacks.

Mancini opted out of a minor league deal with Arizona last July after batting .308 with 16 homers for triple-A Reno.

Grissom’s move to the IL was retroactive to Friday. Frazier’s move was retroactive to Saturday.

The Angels also recalled infielder Denzer Guzman from Salt Lake and transferred infielder Yoán Moncada to the 60-day injured list.