Kyren Paris delivers again as Angels hang on for wild victory vs. Cardinals

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Apr 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals intentionally walked Mike Trout to get to Kyren Paris.

Clearly, they haven’t been paying attention.

Paris, suddenly the Angels’ best hitter, delivered a two-out, run-scoring single to put the Angels on top in the 11th inning. Yoán Moncada followed with a two-run double and the Angels held on for a roller coaster of a 9-7, 11-inning victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Paris hit a tie-breaking homer in the eighth on Sunday and a game-tying triple in the seventh on Monday, helping the Angels (4-1) to what is now a four-game winning streak.

The previous three had been relatively clean games in which the Angels got just enough offense to win with their pitching and defense.

This one was headed that way until a wild sequence began in the bottom of the eighth, when first baseman Nolan Schanuel’s throwing error allowed the Cardinals to tie the score.

What followed was like sluggers exchanging punches.

Schanuel atoned for his mistake with a two-run triple in the top of the 10th. Jo Adell then gave the Angels a three-run lead with a single.

In the bottom of the inning, the Angels had used all their reasonably fresh relievers. They were down to a couple of pitchers who had never been in the majors before last week, and who had each thrown at least 20 pitches the night before.

Left-hander Garrett McDaniels, who was pitching his second major league game a night after pitching his first, could only retire one of the four hitters he faced. Two runs scored.

Right-hander Ryan Johnson the entered with the tying run at third and one out, and he gave up a game-tying single. He escaped with the score still tied.

In the 11th, Paris and Moncada delivered to give Johnson another chance.

Johnson gave up a run-scoring single and then got a flyout before Washington turned to Ryan Zeferjahn for the final two outs. Zeferjahn was pitching for the third day in a row.

He retired both hitters he faced, picking up his first major league save and securing Johnson’s first victory a night after he got his first save.

Up until Schanuel’s error sent the game off the rails, it was all about a solid outing from starter Kyle Hendricks and a quick burst of offense from the hitters.

Hendricks gave up two runs in six innings, the fourth time the Angels got a quality start in the first five games of the season.

At the plate, the Angels’ offense in the first nine innings was confined to a four-batter stretch in the second.

With two outs and nobody on, the Angels strung together four straight two-out hits. Tim Anderson and Taylor Ward singled, and then Luis Rengifo and Trout doubled. That produced the Angels’ first three-run inning of the young season.

Trout, who hit a fly ball to the warning track in center later in the game, showed signs of getting out of his season-opening slump. He’s 2 for 17.