Mickey Moniak hit a grand slam and left-hander Tyler Anderson battled his way through five innings as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 7-5 on Tuesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Moniak’s fourth homer of the season and first career grand slam came during a five-run fourth inning that gave Anderson some breathing room when he needed it most.
Anderson (7-7) has been the Angels’ ace this year, but he struggled with his control on Tuesday, walking five batters.
The A’s were on the brink of knocking him out of the game in the third, but Anderson was able to survive. He walked three in the inning and hit a batter, also allowing two hits — a double by Armando Alvarez and an RBI single by JJ Bleday.
Alvarez went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run in his first big-league start.
Anderson hit Tyler Nevin with a pitch with the bases loaded in the third to plate Oakland’s second run, but he retired Shea Langeliers on a groundout to prevent further damage, keeping it a 2-0 game.
The Angels responded in the fourth against A’s starter Mitch Spence (4-4), starting with Taylor Ward’s leadoff double. Ward, who also homered in the seventh inning, went to third on a single by Willie Calhoun and scored on Logan O’Hoppe’s base hit.
After Zach Neto was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Moniak turned on an 81-mph curveball from Spence and hit a liner that just cleared the wall in right-center field for a 5-2 Angels lead.
Anderson was able to get through the fifth, allowing a solo homer to Brent Rooker in the frame, and he ended up leaving with a 5-3 lead. In his five innings, Anderson allowed the three runs on five hits, striking out two.
Jo Adell had an RBI double in the sixth for the Angels, and Ward’s solo shot in the seventh increased their lead to 7-3. Oakland rallied for two runs in the eighth, which featured a run-scoring single from Alvarez and a sacrifice fly from Lawrence Butler.
Carlos Estevez pitched a scoreless ninth for his 15th save of the year, but his streak of consecutive batters retired ended at 26 when Tyler Soderstrom hit a two-out single.
Spence was tagged for six runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and fanned six.
–Field Level Media
