Beltre's blast lifts Rangers over Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Adrian Beltre's one-out homer in the eighth inning snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted the Texas Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
The win for the Rangers, coupled with Houston's loss, increased their American League West lead to 9 1/2 games and reduced their magic number to clinch the division to 12.
Most of the game featured a pitchers' duel between Angels starter Tyler Skaggs and Rangers starter Yu Darvish.
Skaggs continued his progress since returning from Tommy John surgery, throwing six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and four walks while striking out eight in 95 pitches.
Mike Morin replaced Skaggs and surrendered a double on his first pitch of the seventh inning to Mitch Moreland. Moreland, who had three hits, went to third on a groundout and scored on a single by Elvis Andrus.
Andrus' liner just barely got over the glove of shortstop Andrelton Simmons, as the Angels played the infield in.
Darvish took the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh, having allowed just two hits through six. But he hit C.J. Cron with a pitch with one out, helping the Angels get a rally started.
Jefry Marte forced Cron at second for the second out of the inning, then stole second base. Andrelton Simmons quickly fell behind 0-2, but fouled off several two-strike pitches and worked the count to 2-2.
On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Simmons laced a triple into right-center field to score Marte and tie the game 1-1. It also knocked Darvish out of the game.
Matt Bush replaced Darvish and swiftly ended the inning by striking out Jett Bandy on three pitches. Darvish, who got a no-decision, gave up one run, three hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine.
The game became a battle of bullpens, and the Rangers relievers were up to the task. Bush retired all four batters he faced before Sam Dyson pitched the ninth.
Dyson gave up a leadoff single to Mike Trout, then got Albert Pujols to hit a popup to shallow center. Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus camped under the ball, then let it drop, picked it up and got Trout on a force at second.
That left Pujols on first instead of Trout, and the Angels responded by putting in Rafael Ortega to pinch run.
Dyson struck out C.J. Cron for the second out, but Ortega stole second on the first pitch to pinch hitter Ji-Man Choi. Choi worked a walk but Dyson got Simmons on a comebacker to end it and earn his 33rd save.
The Angels used five relievers including J.C. Ramirez, who surrendered Beltre's homer, his 27th of the season and 440th of his career.
Darvish walked the first batter he faced -- Yunel Escobar leading off the bottom of the first inning -- then shut the door on the Angels' bats. Darvish retired the next nine Angels hitters in a row, including six by strikeout, through the third inning.
Kole Calhoun broke the string with a single leading off the fourth, but kept the Angels off the scoreboard.
Meanwhile, Skaggs matched Darvish inning-for-inning. He gave up a first-inning single to Beltre and walked one batter in the first, second and fourth innings, but had seven strikeouts through four frames.
Skaggs, though, did face trouble in the fourth when Rougned Odor walked with one out and advanced to third on a two-out double by Moreland. But Skaggs escaped when he struck out Carlos Gomez to end the inning.
NOTES: Texas 1B Mitch Moreland got his first start versus a left-handed pitcher, Angels LHP Tyler Skaggs, in nearly a month (Aug. 13). He entered the game hitting .256 (22 for 86) against lefties, higher than his average (.244) opposite righties. ... Angels rookie-league OF Cam Williams was hit with a 56-game suspension without pay after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, a metabolite of Nandrolone. ...Rangers OF/DH Carlos Beltran went 0-for-4 to snap an 11-game hitting streak in which he hit .444 with three homers, four doubles and 13 RBIs. ... Five former Rookie of the Year award winners have played for the Angels this season, tying the 2000 New York Yankees for the most used by one team in a season. The most recent was RHP Andrew Bailey, who made his Angels debut Sept. 2. The others are DH Albert Pujols, RHP Huston Street, C Geovany Soto and CF Mike Trout.