Unearned run in 12th inning sends Angels past Twins, 4-3

The Angels caught two huge breaks in the top of the 12th inning Saturday, scoring an unearned run without the benefit of a hit to scratch out a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins in the first game of a day-night doubleheader in Target Field.

Daniel Robertson, who entered as a pinch-runner in the ninth, opened the 12th with a routine grounder that second baseman Brian Dozier booted for an error. Reliever Blaine Boyer walked Chris Iannetta on four pitches, and Ryan Jackson, who entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth, bunted the runners up.

Twins Manager Paul Molitor summoned left-hander Ryan O’Rourke to face Kole Calhoun, who hit a sinking line drive through the late-afternoon shadows, and then a small sliver of sun, that shortstop Eduardo Escobar appeared to make a backhanded catch of just above the grass.

But the ball squirted out of Escobar’s glove, allowing Robertson to score for a 4-3 lead. Calhoun hesitated in the batter’s box, thinking the ball was caught, and catcher Kurt Suzuki was able to field Escobar’s throw home and throw to first in time for the out.

Huston Street gave up a leadoff single to Torii Hunter in the bottom of the 12th before retiring the next three batters to notch his 37th save, as the Angels moved to within 1 1/2 games of Houston for the second American League wild-card spot. The Twins are tied with the Angels.

Left-hander Jose Alvarez also threw two hitless innings of relief for the Angels, and Mike Morin struck out cleanup batter Miguel Sano and No. 5 hitter Trevor Plouffe to end the 11th inning and earn the win.

Angels starter Andrew Heaney was sharp, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and a 3-1 lead into the seventh, but he walked Joe Mauer to open the seventh. Up stepped Sano, who struck out in both of his at-bats against Heaney, whose pitch count was at 91.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia summoned right-hander Trevor Gott, whose 95-mph fastball on a 1-and-0 count caught far too much of the plate. Sano crushed it for a home run into the second deck in left-center field that traveled an estimated 453 feet and tied the score, 3-3.

Plouffe singled and took third on Hunter’s single, but Scioscia stuck with Gott, who somehow escaped the first-and-third, no-out jam. Eddie Rosario, with the infield in, grounded to second baseman Taylor Featherston, who looked the runner back at third and flipped to second for a force out.

Kurt Suzuki’s bunt on a safety squeeze attempt was too close to the mound, and Gott was able to field the ball and flip to catcher Carlos Perez in time to tag Plouffe out. With two on, Gott struck out Escobar on a full-count pitch to end the inning.

The Angels snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth after loading the bases with no outs against Twins starter Kyle Gibson. Featherston was hit by a pitch to open the inning, and David Murphy slapped an opposite-field double to left to put runners on second and third.

Calhoun walked to load the bases, and Mike Trout hit a fly ball to medium right field. Hunter, the Twins’ 40-year-old right fielder, caught the ball with his momentum heading toward home and made a strong and accurate throw, but Featherston avoided catcher Suzuki’s tag with a nice head-first slide.

Murphy and Calhoun advanced on Hunter’s throw home, and Albert Pujols was walked intentionally to load the bases. C.J. Cron followed with a grounder to shortstop that was hit too slow for Minnesota to turn a double play. Murphy scored to make it 2-0.

Heaney retired the first 13 batters before Plouffe broke up his perfect game with a one-out walk in the fifth. Plouffe was erased when Cron, the Angels first baseman, and shortstop Erick Aybar combined to turn a nifty 3-6-3 double play on Hunter’s grounder.

But Rosario broke up Heaney’s no-hitter when he led off the sixth with a triple to the base of the center-field wall, 411 feet away. Suzuki lined an RBI single to right to trim the Angels’ lead to 2-1, but Heaney retired the next three batters.

The Angels scored in the seventh after David Freese and Perez opened the inning with singles. Featherston dropped a sacrifice bunt down to advance pinch-runner Kaleb Cowart and Perez.

With the infield in, Murphy hit a grounder that Mauer, the Twins’ first baseman, made a diving backhand stop of and, from one knee, threw home. But he couldn’t get enough on the throw to catch Cowart, who slid home safely for a 3-1 lead.

The Angels had a chance to tack on with runners on first and third and one out, but reliever Glen Perkins struck out Calhoun, and Casey Fien struck out Trout looking to end the inning.

Follow Mike DiGiovanna on Twitter @MikeDiGiovanna