Angels hang on for 4-3 victory over Rays

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Apr 8, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — The Angels did all they could to lose on Tuesday night, but they ended up winning anyway.

A rough relief outing from Ben Joyce and a bad defensive moment from Mike Trout both seemed like they would sink the Angels, but their teammates picked them up in a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Pinch-hitter Logan O’Hoppe singled with one out in the ninth. He went to second base on a ground ball and scored the go-ahead run on a Luis Rengifo bloop single.

Closer Kenley Jansen then worked the bottom of the ninth to help the Angels (7-3) to their third straight victory.

Jansen had to work out of a jam too. The Rays had runners at second and third with no outs in the ninth. The Angels got an out at the plate on a grounder, then Jansen got two strikeouts to finish off the 450th save of his career.

It wasn’t quite the textbook victory they had planned when a Kyren Paris two-run homer and six scoreless innings from starter Kyle Hendricks and reliever Ryan Zeferjahn had built a 2-0 lead for Joyce.

Manager Ron Washington had been using Joyce in the eighth, but the Rays had the middle of the order due in the seventh.

Joyce gave up a homer to Junior Caminero, a single to Jonathan Aranda, a double to Christopher Morel and then a triple to Kameron Misner. It took 14 pitches for a two-run lead to become a one-run deficit.

Joyce’s four-seam fastball averaged 99.3 mph, which was down from his average of 101.4. His sinker averaged 93.5 mph, down from 95.3 mph.

When Joyce left, the Rays had a runner at third and no outs, but the Angels escaped that inning without the insurance run scoring. Shortstop Kevin Newman made the biggest play of the inning, with a diving stop.

The Angels got that run back in the top of the eighth, on a Travis d’Arnaud groundout.

The Angels then escaped again to keep the score tied.

José Caballero led off the eighth with a fly ball into right field that was misplayed by Trout. The ball dropped behind him and Caballero got a triple. This time it was left-hander Brock Burke who escaped, with two strikeouts (one of which was courtesy of a nice frame job by d’Arnaud) and a fly ball to the warning track.

The Angels then pushed home the go-ahead run, before Jansen escaped the jam in the bottom of the inning.

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks started the game with five scoreless innings, on 83 pitches. Hendricks struck out four and walked two, allowing just two hits.

Hendricks did not give up a hit after the second, retiring 10 of the last 11 hitters he faced.

Two games into his Angels career, Hendricks is showing encouraging signs that he actually can bounce back from a rough season in 2024. He has allowed two runs in 11 innings so far.