Kevin Pillar clubbed two home runs and tallied a career-high six RBIs to complement Patrick Sandoval’s seven shutout innings as the visiting Los Angeles Angels pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-0 on Tuesday.
Pillar went 3-for-5 and scored two runs in his fourth game with the Angels since signing with the club on April 30. The left fielder drilled a three-run homer in the fourth inning and added a solo shot in the seventh to record his first multi-home run game since Aug. 28, 2021, as a member of the New York Mets.
Logan O’Hoppe went 4-for-5 with two RBIs, while Mickey Moniak had two hits, two runs scored and a stolen base for Los Angeles, which outhit the Pirates 15-3.
Sandoval (2-5) scattered three hits, struck out seven and walked one in his longest outing of the season. The left-hander retired 11 consecutive batters from the third inning until the seventh when Connor Joe lined a one-out double to left field that Pillar lost in the lights.
Joe, Andrew McCutchen and Edward Olivares accounted for Pittsburgh’s three hits as the Pirates had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Moniak singled to lead off the fourth inning and stole second with one out before Willie Calhoun drew a four-pitch walk to bring up Pillar. The 35-year-old veteran put the Angels ahead 3-0 when he hammered Pittsburgh starter Quinn Priester’s 2-0 sinker beyond the wall in the left-field corner for his first home run with Los Angeles.
Priester’s error helped the Angels grow their lead in the fifth.
After surrendering a one-out double to Moniak, Priester fielded Brandon Drury’s comebacker and caught Moniak too far off second base. Priester threw too low as Moniak safely dove back into second and Drury reached first.
Calhoun singled to load the bases and Pillar followed with an RBI groundout to make it 4-0. O’Hoppe hit an RBI single through the left side to chase Priester (0-3), who surrendered five runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Zach Neto singled with one out and later scored Los Angeles’ sixth run on Nolan Schanuel’s looping hit into right field. Pillar led off the seventh inning by crushing a hanging slider from Roansy Contreras into the left-center-field seats for his third homer of the year to push the Angels’ lead to 7-0.
An inning later, Pillar set his career-high RBI mark with an RBI double before O’Hoppe tacked on an RBI single to close the scoring.
