Bobby Abreu’s single in ninth leads Angels past Blue Jays
There was no sugarcoating it. Closer Brian Fuentes was tagged with the blown save in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday, but it was right fielder Bobby Abreu’s fielding gaffe that allowed Toronto to score the tying run.
“I’m the one who screwed up in the ninth,” Abreu said. “It was my fault.”
That just made the bottom of the ninth sweeter for Abreu and the Angels, who notched their fourth walk-off win of the season when Abreu slapped a two-out, bases-loaded single to left field for a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium.
Mike Napoli opened the ninth with a double to left-center — 17 of his last 24 hits have been for extra bases — and went to third base on Maicer Izturis’ grounder to second. Juan Rivera and Erick Aybar were intentionally walked, loading the bases.
Toronto shortstop Alex Gonzalez made a superb diving stop of Howie Kendrick’s grounder up the middle and, from his knees, threw home for a force out.
But Abreu worked left-hander Scott Downs to a 2-and-2 count and stroked a slider away for his opposite-field game-winner. Abreu was mobbed by his teammates, and the Angels (23-26) moved to within four games of Texas in the American League West.
“To come back and win like this,” Abreu said, “was perfect.”
Angels starter Joel Pineiro walked three in a three-run second that included Jeremy Reed’s two-run single, but the right-hander gave his team a chance to come back by holding Toronto hitless from the third inning through the sixth.
Kendrick’s run-scoring double and Abreu’s sacrifice fly in the third and Michael Ryan’s run-scoring double in the fourth pulled the Angels even, 3-3.
Pineiro survived a dicey moment in the sixth when, with a runner on first, no outs and the field engulfed by shadows after the 4 p.m. start, he called Napoli, his catcher, to the mound.
“The sun blinded me for a second, and I didn’t know where I was throwing the ball,” Pineiro said. “I told Nap, ‘Come here, give me a second, I’m trying to throw it to you, and I don’t know where you’re at.’ During my delivery, I was losing sight of him.”
Pineiro found his bearings and got Vernon Wells to ground into a double play.
Struggling designated hitter Hideki Matsui, mired in a 14-for-89 skid (.157) before his bloop single in the fourth, followed Kendry Morales’ sixth-inning double with a two-run homer to right for a 5-3 lead. His second homer since April 22 came with his father, Masao, who traveled from Japan, on hand for his first game in Anaheim.
Edwin Encarnacion’s run-scoring double off reliever Kevin Jepsen in the seventh cut the Angels’ lead to 5-4, and after Fernando Rodney pitched a scoreless eighth for the Angels, Gonzalez opened the top of the ninth with a popup to shallow right-center.
Kendrick raced back from second base and Abreu, who appeared to get a late break on the ball, raced in from right field. Abreu called off Kendrick and tried to make a basket catch, but the ball bounced out of his glove for a two-base error.
Fuentes struck out Jose Bautista on three pitches, but John Buck laced a run-scoring double to left for a 5-5 tie. Fuentes got Encarnacion to fly out to center and struck out Reed, putting him in line for the win when Abreu came through in the bottom of the ninth.
“I don’t know if he was unable to track it because of the high sky, but I know it was a ball he thought he should have caught,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Abreu’s error. “It was great that he got a chance to redeem himself, and he came through.”
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