Angels can’t hold off Blue Jays rally in 6-5 loss

Down to their final out, the Toronto Blue Jays got consecutive run-scoring singles from Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion in the ninth inning Sunday to rally for a 6-5 win over the Angels, snapping the Angels’ modest three-game winning streak and wiping out a solid pitching effort from left-hander C.J. Wilson.

Down, 5-2, entering the eighth, Toronto chased Wilson with one-out singles from Rajai Davis and Bautista, who combined for six of the Blue Jays’ 12 hits. That knocked Wilson out of the game, but that wasn’t the end of the Angels’ bad luck because when Encarnacion greeted reliever J.C. Gutierrez with a ground ball to third that looked to be a potential inning-ending double play, Chris Nelson bounced his throw to second baseman Tommy Field for his second error of the day, allowing Davis to score.

After another pitching change, Jose Lind hit another potential double-play ball to Mark Trumbo at first but Trumbo also threw wild to second, forcing shortstop Erick Aybar to settle for just the forceout. Pinch-hitter Maicer Izturis then followed with an infield single to drive in another run and push the tying run into scoring position.

The Angels escaped that inning with the lead but they couldn’t close it out in the ninth, with Brett Lawrie leading off with a single and closer Ernesto Frieri hitting the next batter. The Blue Jays appeared to catch a break when Angels catcher Chris Iannetta picked Lawrie off second, but after being trapped in a rundown, Lawrie dived back into second ahead of Aybar’s tag, according to second base umpire Brian Knight.

Replays, however, appeared to show Aybar tagged Lawrie on the right shoulder before he touched the base.

Nonetheless, a pair of outs got the Angels within one batter of the win before Bautista and Encarnacion drove in the go-ahead and winning runs with consecutive singles.

Mike Trout and Trumbo each homered for the Angels, who built a 5-2 lead after four innings.

Toronto starter Mark Buehrle came into the game having gone 20 innings without giving up a run. But the Angels needed just two batters to end that streak with Trout homering with one out in the first inning.

The Blue Jays answered with a pair of runs of their own in the third, helped in large measure by a pair of Angels errors.

After two quick outs Jose Reyes reached on an infield single and continued to second on third baseman Nelson’s poor throw. Davis followed with a run-scoring single, then stole second and continued to third when first baseman Trumbo threw the ball into left field on a pickoff play.

One pitch later Bautista singled, scoring Davis.

Trumbo more than made up for his mistake an inning later though, golfing a 0-2 pitch into the stands near the left-field foul pole for a three-run home run, his 25th of the season. And when Aybar and Iannetta followed with doubles, the Angels led, 5-2.

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