Nolan Schanuel drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded walk with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Los Angeles Angels a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Texas Rangers in the opener of a four-game series on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Schanuel’s walk scored Luis Rengifo, who opened the bottom of the ninth with a double into the left-field gap off reliever Chris Martin (0-5) and advanced to third on a single by Kevin Newman. After Zach Neto was walked intentionally to load the bases, left-hander Hoby Milner came in to face the left-handed hitting Schanuel and threw three straight balls after getting a 1-2 count to start the at-bat.
It was the fifth walk-off win of the season for the Angels, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Travis d’Arnaud homered, doubled and drove in a season-high three runs, Neto doubled and had two hits and Rengifo also had two hits and two runs scored for Los Angeles, which also broke an eight-game losing streak to the Rangers. Kenley Jansen (2-2) picked up the win with a hitless inning of relief.
Corey Seager homered and had two hits and two RBIs, Sam Haggerty went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Jonah Heim also had two hits and an RBI for Texas.
The game pitted two starters named Sunday to the American League All-Star team in Jacob deGrom of the Rangers and Yusei Kikuchi of the Angels but neither figured in the decision after departing after five innings.
deGrom gave up three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five, snapping a franchise record of 14 consecutive starts that he had pitched at least five innings in and allowed two runs or fewer. Kikuchi allowed four runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts but left after throwing 97 pitches, 60 for strikes.
Texas took a 2-0 lead in the first on Seager’s 12th home run, a 430-foot drive to center, driving in Haggerty, who had singled.
Los Angeles cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning when Neto led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Trout.
The Angels took a 3-2 lead in the second when d’Arnaud lined a two-run homer down the left field line.
Texas regained the lead, 4-3, in the third on RBI singles by Adolis Garcia and Heim but Los Angeles regained the lead, 5-4, in the sixth with two runs off reliever Shawn Armstrong highlighted by a game-tying RBI double off the bottom of the fence in left-center by d’Arnaud followed by a pinch-hit single by LaMonte Wade Jr.
The Rangers tied it, 5-5, in the eighth when Jake Burger reached first base on a wild pitch while swinging at strike three for what would have been the third out of the inning. Josh Smith then followed with an RBI double down the right field line to drive in Burger.
