Jose Siri hit a game-winning single in the 10th inning, Mike Trout and Logan O’Hoppe homered, and the Angels beat the Houston Astros 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Angels starter Reid Detmers retired his first 15 batters before Shay Whitcomb homered leading off the sixth. Chase Silseth replaced Detmers to begin the eighth and gave up a leadoff homer to Cam Smith that tied it 2-all.
Houston nearly took the lead in the ninth. Yordan Alvarez singled with two out and Christian Walker followed with a double that appeared to score Alvarez. But the Angels challenged the safe call at home plate and it was overturned following a replay review.
Bryan Abreu (2-3) came on for the Astros in the 10th and pinch-hitter Donovan Walton hit a leadoff single that moved automatic runner Nick Madrigal from second to third. Siri, facing one of his former teams, then hit an 0-2 pitch to left field to drive in Madrigal.
Ryan Zeferjahn (3-3) worked a scoreless inning for the win.
Trout launched his 15th homer to open the scoring in the first, and O’Hoppe’s drive with two out in the fifth made it 2-0.
Peter Lambert gave up two runs and five hits with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings for Houston.
Detmers permitted only one hit over seven innings. He struck out nine and walked none. The left-hander is third in the American League with 97 strikeouts and has given up three or fewer earned runs in eight of his last nine starts.
No stranger to coming through in a big moment, the Dodgers star was hoping to see a fastball up in the zone from Angels reliever Kirby Yates.
So Freeman stayed patient, working his way into a full count.
Then Yates gave him what he wanted — and Freeman delivered the 20th walk-off hit of his career.
The Dodger Stadium crowd erupted in celebration as Freeman watched the ball soar over the right-center field wall in the ninth inning of a 1-0 victory over the Angels.
Freddie Freeman hits a walk-off home run for the Dodgers in a 1-0 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
Freeman grinned as he rounded the bases. He threw a thumbs up at his teammates before they swarmed him in celebration. He finally had given the Dodgers something to cheer for after being held to just two hits over 25 at-bats.
“I’ve been feeling good lately,” Freeman said. “I was tweaking things early on, just trying to find a consistent feel for things. Sometimes it’s just get a couple of hits, get confidence and get going. Nothing really crazy. It’s the same routine, hitting some soft line drives at the shortstop, and things have been working.”
Through most of the game, the excitement was contained to a pitcher’s duel — a chess game of defensive plays, waiting to see who flinched first.
Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki was red hot in what would tie for his longest outing of the season. Sasaki, for the first time this season, threw triple digits in back-to-back appearances, topping 100.6 mph. The Japanese pitcher threw all three of his pitches harder than his yearly average.
Freddie Freeman watches his walk-off home run clear the wall in right-center field to cap a 1-0 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
“I’ve been experiencing a lot of good and bad since 2024,” Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. “But I feel like I’m able to maintain this velocity. I think I’m confident about that, but I’m just keeping working on it to make sure I’m in a better place.”
With the speed uptick, Sasaki has also seen an inverse downtick in the earned runs column on his statline. His monthly ERA reached its zenith at 7.23 in his April starts, descending to its current 4.03 ERA.
In Sasaki’s best starts, the elevated velocity and pitch mix makes the right-hander lethal, giving him extended runway to pitch further into the game. Against the Angels (24-40), the elevated velocity allowed him to throw 4⅓ hitless innings in his career-high 11th appearance of the season. He pitched seven innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out 10.
It’s a return to how Sasaki looked when he played in Japan, manager Dave Roberts said. Confidence might be the clearest sign things are clicking. Sasaki thumped his chest after striking out Adam Fraizer in the fifth inning, a rare show of emotion.
“I certainly think we can all agree that the floor for Roki is much higher, and the expectation every time he takes the ball is high, and he’s earned that,” Roberts said. “If you look at the last six or seven stats, it’s been as good as any starter in the big leagues in the consistency of performance. So really proud of him and I know that he wants more, and the floor has just been raised.”
Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers in the first inning of a 1-0 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Some quick thinking from second baseman Miguel Rojas also helped preserve Sasaki’s strong start. On Nick Madrigal’s sharp line drive in the third inning, the pitcher reached for the ball and popped it up with the tip of his glove. The ball ricocheted off its intended course, but Rojas nabbed it with his bare hand, throwing it to first where a lunging Freeman caught it. The play was initially ruled as an infield single, but it was overturned on review.
“When it hits off a pitcher — you’re already going, committed to one way, then you gotta make another,” Freeman laughed. “The old guy’s still got it.”
Madrigal would break the Angels’ hitless run in the fifth with a double off the left-field wall. But, he was left stranded when Sasaki induced a groundout before his strikeout of Frazier.
The Dodgers (41-23) didn’t fare much better against Angels starter Reid Detmers. In the fourth, Freeman singled and moved to third on a forceout on Kyle Tucker. But, with two outs on the board, Will Smith struck out.
Andy Pages squandered a potential scoring opportunity when he was caught stealing in the sixth. The center fielder, who went one for four, has struggled at the plate in recent games. Against Arizona this week, Pages batted .176, collecting only three hits.
As the innings dragged, both the Dodgers and the Angels failed to find momentum. Reliever Chase Silseth took over in the seventh for Detmers, who gave up just two hits, walked two and struck out six. Silseth silenced the opposing batters, issuing only a walk to Smith.
Edgardo Henriquez took over in the eighth, striking out the first two batters he faced. Then, he hit Zach Neto with a pitch, and after Neto stole second, the Dodgers found themselves in a precarious position with Mike Trout at the plate. Not for long, though, as Henriquez struck out Trout.
Roberts, who had watched Rojas and Santiago Espinal go a combined 0 for 4, pinch-hit for both in the eighth. To a roaring applause, Max Muncy entered the batter’s box, his first plate appearance since a scary collision with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Ildemaro Vargas on Thursday. Muncy, though, went down swinging.
Tanner Scott took the mound in the ninth a day after he gave up a walk-off home run to Arizona’s Ketel Marte. Jo Adell hit a one-out single then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Donovan Walton. Roberts then put Blake Treinen into the game, and he got Oswald Peraza to ground out to first.
With Freeman’s sixth career walk-off home run, the Dodgers beat the Angels for the fourth consecutive time this season.
“Freddie just has aura,” Roberts said. “There’s not too many guys in baseball that you’d want in a game-winning situation, and Freddie does it once again.”
Angels second baseman Oswald Peraza walks back to the dugout after grounding out during the ninth inning against the Dodgers.
Reid Detmers had a career-high 14 strikeouts and pinch runner Donovan Walton touched home on an errant throw in the ninth to give the Angels a walk-off 2-1 win at Angel Stadium and their first three-game sweep of the season.
With one out and runners on first and second in the ninth, third baseman Oswald Peraza grounded into a fielder’s choice at second. Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue bobbled the ball and first baseman Jake Burger couldn’t cleanly field his throw, allowing Walton to advance from second to score the game-winning run.
The Angels’ dugout erupted as Walton scored.
“That was amazing,” Peraza said. “I went up there and just put the ball in play, and not trying too much. I’m happy for the sweep. And yeah, amazing.”
The win sealed the Angels’ fourth series victory and second three-game winning streak of the year.
Detmers (1-5) entered on a three-game skid and finished dominantly after yielding a second-inning home run to Burger.
The left-handed pitcher ultimately gave up one hit and one run through eight innings — his first time pitching through eight innings in 2026 and first time since his no-hitter as a rookie in 2022 — while setting a new personal best with 14 strikeouts to zero walks.
“I mean, you realize it, but you don’t really think much of it,” Detmers said when asked if he was aware of his strikeout count. “It’s more just, ‘How can I get this next guy out?’ Like I said a little bit ago, just stick with the process, don’t overthink stuff. There’s not a whole lot that goes into it, to be honest with you …”
In front of an announced crowd of 36,903 on “Little League Day” in Anaheim, the 26-year-old used 96 pitches to lower his ERA from 5.07 to 4.57 in the win.
Rangers left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore (3-4) dueled, too, giving up one hit, two walks and one run through six innings.
“Gore was really good today,” Detmers said. “His stuff was really good today. He kept us off balance and got out of a couple of big situations.”
But the Angels’ offense, finishing with four hits, found a way to make do without solely relying on the long ball.
Mike Trout started the Angels’ scoring in the third with a two-out single to score Sebastián Rivero from second and tie the score at one.
The Angels’ run support behind Detmers was far from ideal. But Angels manager Kurt Suzuki is proud of his team’s effort in what was a pitcher’s duel.
“Like we talked about, you put the ball in play, things happen,” Suzuki said. “You never know what can happen when you put the ball in play. And you know, [Peraza] showed right there with the speed and putting it in play … forcing the issue a little bit.”
After Detmers and Gore sat down, Gavin Collyer (0-1) earned the loss, and Angels right-handed reliever Sam Bachman earned his first win of the year after striking out Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo to get out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the ninth.
Glad his team won, Detmers considers Sunday’s game his second-best career performance after his no-hitter. Suzuki, who was Angels teammates with Detmers during his no-hitter from four seasons ago, also chimed in.
“Yeah, I mean, never discredit a no-hitter, right?” Suzuki said. “A no-hitter is special. But for him, I think what made [Sunday] … he was better was the strikeouts, right? It was not many balls put in play, that’s for sure … He struck out 14 guys, [and] to do it under 100 pitches, that’s even more impressive. That means you’re getting in, getting out of there really quick. So, I think … just probably the best start he’s had.”
Despite the recent uproar among fans frustrated with the Angels, whose 20-34 record is tied for worst in MLB with the Rockies, the Angels aim to stay hot.
“Well, as you know, we need more wins,” Peraza said. “[We’re] working very hard every day for that result.”
Mulivai Levu helped UCLA remain the comeback kings of college baseball, hitting a walk-off, three-run home run to seal a 7-5 win over rival USC on Saturday and a spot in the Big Ten tournament championship game.
It was No. 1 seed UCLA’s 27th comeback win of the season and the second consecutive game Levu’s hit sealed a victory during the Big Ten tournament played in Omaha, Neb.
On Saturday night, Levu hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to seal UCLA’s comeback 4-3 win over Purdue in the conference tournament quarterfinals.
UCLA improved to 50-6, a record that Levu said gives the team confidence it will find a way to win.
“It’s the power of friendship right there. We’re all well connected,” Levu said during an interview Saturday on the Big Ten Network. “… We just don’t give up. We’re never out of it, we’re never doubting ourselves. We know what kind of lineup we’ve got, we’ve just got to use it.”
USC’s Augie Lopez hit a double and the rest of the Trojans were active early, building a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Levu hit an RBI single in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit. Dominic Cadiz had an RBI single in the fourth before pitchers held both teams scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings.
Dean West hit a two-run home run in the seventh to give UCLA its first lead at 4-3, and both teams were scoreless in the eighth.
In the ninth, Adrian Lopez and Augie Lopez managed to score runs for USC, taking a 5-4 lead. Top Trojans reliever Adam Troy got No. 1 MLB draft prospect Roch Cholowsky to fly out.
Then Levu entered the batter’s box with two outs and hit the home run that sent USC (43-15) back to Los Angeles for a break before the NCAA tournament brackets are revealed Sunday night.
“They’re rivals on the field, but those are our boys off the field,” Levu said of the Trojans. “They’re good guys and they’re good team. We’ll probably see them again later on in the playoff run. Props to them, it was a great game, they made it very interesting. I’m just glad we won.”
Adam Frazier singled, leading off the ninth inning for the first hit against Athletics starter J.T. Ginn, and Zach Neto followed with a two-run homer that gave the Angels a 2-1 victory Monday night.
Neto drove a 2-0 sinker 413 feet to center field, stunning Ginn and the A’s while ending a six-game losing streak for the Angels. It was their third walk-off win this season.
Ginn (2-2) struck out 10 and issued one walk on 105 pitches. He also hit Neto with a pitch in the sixth.
The right-hander was perfect through 4 1/3 innings and came within three outs of the first major league no-hitter since Shota Imanaga combined with two Chicago Cubs relievers for a 12-0 win over Pittsburgh on Sept. 4, 2024.
Lawrence Butler had a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the ninth that drove in Zack Gelof for the first run of the game, but the Angels rallied to win despite getting outhit 7-2.
Walbert Ureña tossed six scoreless innings for the Angels, giving up four hits and striking out four. Ryan Zeferjahn gave up the first run of the game and walked the bases loaded, but Chase Silseth (1-0) worked out of the jam by getting slugger Nick Kurtz to ground into a game-ending double play.
Kurtz’s fifth-inning double extended his on-base streak to 41 games, tying Eddie Joost (1949) for the sixth-longest in A’s history. Kurtz is also tied with Kyle Schwarber last year for the longest in the big leagues across the last four seasons.
