Alex Young struggles, Diamondbacks fall to Angels in series finale
Sep 17, 2020, 5:29 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Alex Young throws to the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer and Mike Trout drove in two runs in the Los Angeles Angels’ 7-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.
David Fletcher and Taylor Ward had three hits apiece for the Angels, who jumped to a 6-0 lead in the third inning and pounded out 14 hits on the way to their ninth win in 14 games. Jared Walsh also extended his Angels franchise record by scoring a run and driving in a run in his ninth consecutive game.
Griffin Canning (1-3) finally got a win in his 10th start of the season for the Angels, throwing five innings of six-hit ball with seven strikeouts. He allowed two runs, one earned.
Christian Walker had two hits and drove in a run for the Diamondbacks, who won the series by scoring a combined 18 runs while winning the first two games.
Alex Young (2-4) yielded six runs on eight Los Angeles hits while failing to get out of the third inning.
The Angels jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning on Trout’s sacrifice fly and Rendon’s ninth homer of the season. Walsh had a sacrifice fly and Trout added an RBI single in the second.
Nick Ahmed drove in Arizona’s first run with an RBI double in the fourth. The Diamondbacks added another run in the fifth after four-time Gold Glove-winning Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons committed two errors on the same play, dropping Josh VanMeter’s soft two-out popup in the sun and then throwing wildly past first base.
Simmons atoned with an RBI single in the eighth. Every Angels starter got a hit except Justin Upton.
WALSH’S WORLD
Walsh failed to homer for only the second time in his last eight games but still extended his hitting streak to nine games. The 27-year-old rookie first baseman also extended his franchise record for consecutive games with a run scored and an RBI, one night after breaking the mark previously held by Wally Joyner (1987) and Fred Lynn (1984).
Walsh is the first AL player with an RBI and a run scored in nine straight games since David Ortiz did it for Minnesota in 2002. According to the Angels, Walsh’s streak in that achievement is the longest in major league history by a rookie since the RBI became an official statistic in 1920.
SHOHEI SITS
Angels DH Shohei Ohtani wasn’t in the lineup for the fifth consecutive day. Manager Joe Maddon is giving the slumping slugger some time to “regroup,” he said. Ohtani also struggles against left-handers, hitting .154 with no homers this season, which means he probably won’t be back in the starting lineup until Saturday against Texas. Ohtani is batting .189 with five homers and 20 RBIs in 37 games overall this season.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: Zac Gallen (1-2, 3.15 ERA) takes the mound in Houston for the start of a weekend series against Zack Greinke and the Astros.
Angels: Jaime Barria (0-0, 3.38 ERA) makes his fourth start of the season in the opener of the Halos’ final home series of the season against Wes Benjamin and the Texas Rangers.
