Juan Rivera is a sight to behold in Angels’ improbable 9-7 comeback win over Rangers
Followers of the Angels were beginning to question the heart of Juan Rivera, so tired were they of his uninspired play, but the left fielder showed a pulse Friday night, and in so doing injected a glimmer of life into his team’s fading playoff hopes.
Rivera, heavily criticized for several lackluster efforts on defense over the last week or so, drove in four runs to lead the Angels to an improbable 9-7 come-from-behind victory over the Texas Rangers in Angel Stadium.
With the Angels trailing, 5-0, Rivera, who missed six games in late June and early July because of stress-induced blurred vision, crushed a three-run home run to left-center field in the bottom of the second to highlight a four-run rally.
Trailing, 7-4, in the fourth, Rivera, who had no RBIs in his previous nine games, singled to center to drive in the first run of another four-run outburst that was capped by Maicer Izturis’ RBI single, which gave the Angels an 8-7 lead.
The Angels added an insurance run in the sixth on Bobby Abreu’s RBI double, and relievers Trevor Bell, Fernando Rodney and closer Brian Fuentes (19th save) blanked Texas over the final three innings, the Angels pulling to within eight games of the first-place Rangers in the American League West.
“He’s really been contributing on offense the last few weeks — he’s one of the few guys who is swinging well,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Rivera, who is batting .261 with 12 home runs and 39 runs batted in this season.
“We’re going to need that kind of production from Juan as we move forward. He’s a second-half player, and he hit a big home run in the second and had a key hit in the fourth.”
Starter Ervin Santana (10-7) got the win despite staggering through the first three innings, when he gave up six runs — three were unearned — and nine hits, and committed a balk when he fell off the mound on a fifth-inning pitch to Elvis Andrus.
“This was huge,” Angels catcher Mike Napoli said. “We can’t be losing many more games.”
Many think the Angels must sweep this three-game series from Texas to get back into the playoff race, but Scioscia is trying not to attach too much significance to this weekend.
“We can’t worry about one series — we have a lot on our plate that we need to clean up,” Scioscia said after the Angels won for only the second time in nine games. “We’re a better team than we’ve shown in the last 15-20 games.”
Not in the first inning Friday night. Shortstop Erick Aybar’s throwing error paved the way for the Rangers to score three unearned runs, on Josh Hamilton’s RBI double and David Murphy’s two-run single, and Vladimir Guerrero’s two-run single in the second made it 5-0.
The Angels countered with four in the bottom of the second, singles by Hideki Matsui and Alberto Callaspo preceding Rivera’s three-run shot, and Aybar following with a solo shot to right-center, his fourth home run.
Andrus’ RBI single in the third and Nelson Cruz’s prodigious solo homer to left in the fourth gave the Rangers a 7-4 lead, but back came the Angels again in the bottom of the fourth.
Callaspo led off with a single and took third on Howie Kendrick’s hit-and-run single to right. Rivera singled to center for a run, and Napoli’s RBI ground-rule double to center knocked out Texas starter Tommy Hunter, who was charged with eight runs in three-plus innings and suffered his first loss this season after eight wins.
Aybar hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it 7-7, Napoli gambling by tagging from second and diving headfirst into third as the throw from Murphy bounced past Michael Young. With the infield in, Izturis grounded an RBI single to left for an 8-7 lead.
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