OC Register: Kole Calhoun homers in 10th inning to lift Angels past Dodgers

[AngelsWin.com]

LOS ANGELES – Kole Calhoun’s third home run in two games broke a tie and sent the Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Dodgers in 10 innings Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers had scored in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings. But Calhoun turned on the first pitch he saw from Kenley Jansen with two outs in the 10th.

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The Angels have won three of the five meetings with the Dodgers over the past week. Four of the five games have been decided by one run.

For the Dodgers, the loss dropped them out of first place and a half-game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks who won Saturday afternoon.

Like anyone driving from Orange County to Dodger Stadium for the game, Dodgers starter Alex Wood ran into traffic right away. Eight of the first 14 Angels batters reached base – three singles, three doubles and two walks.

There was some luck involved – a broken-bat infield single by Mike Trout, a single off Wood’s glove by Heaney and a sinking liner by Andrelton Simmons that Dodgers centerfielder Andrew Toles turned into a double by diving for it. Wood was able to dart and dodge enough to strand five runners on base in the first two innings and minimize the damage to three runs, the last coming on a bases-loaded walk to Justin Upton.

After the walk to Upton, Wood retired 11 of the next 12 Angels batters and allowed just two more baserunners in his six innings.

That gave the Dodgers’ offense time to match the Angels’ start.

They got two runs back in a second inning that featured a throwing error by Heaney and a bases-loaded hit by pitch of Chris Taylor. Taylor tied the game three innings later when he led off the fifth with a solo home run.

It stayed into the seventh inning when Wood was replaced by Dylan Floro. The reliever acquired from the Cincinnati Reds a little over a week ago retired the first 12 batters he faced as a Dodger. Justin Upton was the 13th and he ended the string, going down to get an 0-and-1 sinker and lofting it over the wall in left field for a go-ahead home run.

The Dodgers put the tying run in scoring position in the eighth inning after Matt Kemp led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. But Angels reliever Blake Parker struck out Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger then got Andrew Toles to fly out.

More trouble awaited Parker in the ninth inning. Chase Utley led off with a pinch-hit single and scored all the way from first when Yasmani Grandal doubled over Upton’s head in left field.

The Dodgers loaded the bases but Mike Trout ran Joc Pederson’s two-out drive down near the wall in center field, sending the game into extra innings.

Jansen retired the first two Angels in the 10th but left a cutter out over the plate to Calhoun.

The Dodgers had one final chance in the bottom of the 10th when Upton misplayed Toles’ drive to the wall. It went off his glove for a double and Toles moved to third with one out on a passed ball.

But Utley flew out and Grandal struck out to end the game.

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