Eric Ayabar’s sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning scored Kyle Calhoun and lifted the Los Angeles Angels to a 7-6 win over the Twins on Friday night at Target Field.
It was the second late one-run victory for the Angels in as many nights.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Twins trailing 6-4, Trevor Plouffe crushed a double to the left center field gap off of Angels’ closer Huston Street to score Danny Santana and Brian Dozier and tie the game at six.
While Street (1-1) doesn’t get credit for the save, he did pick up the win. Angels reliever Kevin Jepsen pitched a perfect 10th for the save.
Both teams exchanged runs in the first two innings. After Los Angeles scored a run in the top of the first, Minnesota answered back on a sacrifice fly from Kennys Vargas to score Santana to tie the score at one.
In the second after the Angels took a 2-1 lead, Oswaldo Arcia blasted his 15th homer of the year to even it up.
Both teams scored again in the fourth to leave the score knotted at three.
Twins starter Ricky Nolasco held the Angels to two earned runs in five innings. Minnesota used eight relievers the rest of the way. Jared Burton (2-4) who pitched the ninth and tenth innings was tagged with the loss.
Kole Calhoun finished the night 3-for-6 with two RBIs, he also scored four runs. Trout was 2-for-6 with two RBIs to lead the Angels. The pair combined for back-to-back doubles in the eighth inning to give the Angels the lead.
The series continues on Saturday at Target Field. Phil Hughes (15-9) is on the mound for Minnesota against Corey Rasmus (3-1) for the Angels.
