Angels gain in playoff race with sweep of Twins in doubleheader

A gruesome season-ending left-knee injury to ace Garrett Richards could have devastated the Angels in August 2014, and they barely flinched, pulling away to win the American League West with a major league-best 98-64 record.

This year’s test may have come Saturday, when the Angels arrived at Target Field for a crucial day-night doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins and found their setup man, Joe Smith, on crutches after the right-hander sprained his left ankle when he tripped on the steps walking out of the team hotel.

The early grades were good. The Angels caught two huge breaks to scratch out a 4-3, 12-inning victory in the first game, with unheralded relievers Fernando Salas, Jose Alvarez and Mike Morin providing a boost, but they didn’t need any luck in the nightcap.

Richards applied the pitching equivalent of a Ronda Rousey armbar on the Twins for 82/3 innings, Albert Pujols snapped out of a slump with a clutch two-run double in the sixth, and Mike Trout and Chris Iannetta hit second-deck homers to lead the Angels to a 5-2 second-game win and a sweep of the Twins.

The Angels moved to within 11/2 games of Houston for the second American League wild-card spot with 14 games left, but the mood in the clubhouse wasn’t exactly celebratory, not when Smith, who is 5-5 with a 3.71 earned-run average and 32 holds, was in a walking boot and unsure if he’ll pitch again this season.

“It stinks,” Pujols said. “Joe is a huge part of our bullpen. He’s a gamer. It’s hard to see anybody hurt, but when it’s a guy you depend on, it’s tough. But we lost Garrett last year and got hot toward the end. Hopefully, we use this to motivate us a little more and make a good run here.”

Salas escaped a two-on, two-out jam by striking out Trevor Plouffe to end the eighth inning of the first game, and he struck out Torii Hunter to open the ninth to preserve a 3-3 tie.

Alvarez replaced Salas and threw two hitless innings, and Morin struck out Miguel Sano looking at a 94-mph fastball and Plouffe swinging at a 70-mph changeup to end the 11th and earn the win.

Even Trevor Gott, who replaced starter Andrew Heaney and served up a 453-foot two-run homer to Miguel Sano that tied the score in the seventh, redeemed himself. The right-hander gave up two singles after the homer but escaped a first-and-third, no-out jam.

Eddie Rosario, with the infield in, grounded to second baseman Taylor Featherston, who looked the runner back to third and flipped to second for the forceout. Gott fielded Kurt Suzuki’s safety squeeze and threw to the plate to get Plouffe, then struck out Eduardo Escobar to end the inning.

“That’s a moment that will get forgotten,” closer Huston Street, who recorded saves in both games, said of Gott’s escape act. “People will talk about the home run, but what tells me a lot more is that he got out of a first-and-third with nobody out and kept the game tied. That was huge for us.”

The Angels scored the winning run in the first game without a hit. Daniel Robertson opened the 12th with a routine grounder that second baseman Brian Dozier booted for an error.

Reliever Blaine Boyer walked Iannetta on four pitches, and Ryan Jackson bunted the runners up. Kole Calhoun hit a sinking line drive through the sun and afternoon shadows on the infield to shortstop, but the ball squirted out of Escobar’s glove, allowing Robertson to score.

“I didn’t see the ball,” Escobar said. “It was hit too hard.”

The Angels didn’t need much relief in the nightcap. Richards matched a career high with 122 pitches, allowing two runs and five hits, striking out seven, walking four, and retiring 13 in a row from the second through sixth innings. Street got the last out for his 38th save.

“His stuff was electric tonight,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Richards. “He couldn’t get the 27 outs, but he got close on a night it was important for him to pitch deep into the game.”

Up next

Right-hander Matt Shoemaker (7-9, 4.31 ERA) will oppose Minnesota right-hander Tyler Duffey (3-1, 3.72) at Target Field on Sunday at 11 a.m. PDT. TV: FS West; Radio: 830, 1330.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna