OC Register: Mickey Moniak’s 3 hits, defense help Angels rally to beat Twins

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM — On the opening night of what is being billed as “Country Weekend,” the Angels’ Hunter Renfroe might as well have been swinging a banjo.

Renfroe’s softly hit dunker into shallow left field in the seventh inning on Friday ended up being sweet music, driving in the go-ahead run in a 5-4 victory the Angels first looked to have in hand before being forced to rally late.

Just when the Angels seemed ready to craft a tale of loss, they picked up the tempo late against the Minnesota Twins to win the opener of a three-game series and nine-game homestand.

Mickey Moniak had three hits, falling a home run shy of the cycle, and Reid Detmers took a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the Angels came out on top without Mike Trout, who was given a day of rest following a 2-4 road trip to Cleveland and Baltimore.

Detmers brought back memories of last May against the Tampa Bay Rays when he fired a no-hitter in his 11th career start. Detmers matched a career high with 12 strikeouts, including the first two batters of the sixth inning, but never made it out of the frame.

He was chased from the game as the Twins scored three times to tie it. When Minnesota took a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning on a Willi Castro home run, it looked to be another night of woe for the Angels, who led for the 38th time in 46 games but were still about to fall to .500.

That all changed in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Angels stood up for themselves.

The momentum shift actually started in the top of the seventh, two batters after Castro’s home run, when center fielder Moniak robbed Minnesota’s Michael A. Taylor of another homer by reaching over the wall for an out.

In the bottom of the seventh, rookie Zach Neto singled with one out against Griffin Jax (2-6) and scored on a Moniak triple into the right field corner. Moniak was thrown out at home on a Taylor Ward grounder, but after Shohei Othan walked to put two aboard, Renfroe hit just the right note with his soft single to left that brought home Ward from second base.

Angels right-hander Carlos Estevez struck out two in the ninth inning, including Joey Gallo to end it and earn his 11th save. Zack Weiss (1-0) recorded one out in the seventh inning to earn the win.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Neto singled, went to second on a double from Moniak and scored on a fly ball to center field from Ward.

The lead grew to 3-0 in the fourth inning as Brandon Drury drilled an RBI double off the left field wall, went to third on a Gio Urshella line out then scored when Luis Rengifo stole second base and twins catcher Ryan Jeffers threw the ball into center field.

Even as his pitch count soared, Detmers was in control until he opened the sixth with a pair of strikeouts. Carlos Correa walked before Byron Buxton ended the no-hitter on a single to left field. Kyle Farmer followed with an RBI single to chase Detmers.

Minnesota pinch hitter Alex Kirilloff greeted Angels right-hander Jimmy Herget with a two-run double to right field to tie the score 3-3.

More to come on this story.

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[gurn67]

They've been in the lead 38 out of 46 games, and they're barely above .500. I've never seen an Angels' team this bad at holding leads. Usually, when they're bad, they have trouble even getting leads. They fall behind early, and stay there with the occasional late inning comeback.

[arch stanton]

Well lucky you getting to see something new. I’m sure you’re quite happy that they won these last 2 games with late innings comebacks 

[Angel Oracle]

Like I said in another thread, give Moniak an unofficial cycle with the HR robbing catch.

[Revad]

2 hours ago, arch stanton said:

Well lucky you getting to see something new. I’m sure you’re quite happy that they won these last 2 games with late innings comebacks 

Imagine if we had lost the last two games, it would really be season over around here.

[DMVol]

6 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Like I said in another thread, give Moniak an unofficial cycle with the HR robbing catch.

He’s doing what you need to do when you get a chance….force their hand, make it hard not to play you….

[Swordsman78]

3 hours ago, Revad said:

Imagine if we had lost the last two games, it would really be season over around here.

Blargs and Twitter mob would be like

[OhtaniSan]

Moniak is starting to make it impossible for him to be sent down again. As much as I love Ward, I think Moniak could be a useful platoon partner for him

[Revad]

5 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Like I said in another thread, give Moniak an unofficial cycle with the HR robbing catch.

It would be fun if both played well but Moniak had a better career than Marsh.

[HeavenlyHalos]

Great game, Mickey. And for your reward, you get a day off on Saturday lol

[gurn67]

Left field should be a strict platoon for now until either Moniak stops hitting, or Ward starts hitting.

 

[DMVol]

34 minutes ago, gurn67 said:

Left field should be a strict platoon for now until either Moniak stops hitting, or Ward starts hitting.

 

Trout and Renfroe need some off days too….I think playing 4 OF’ers is a doable thing…. 

[HaloBronco]

On 5/20/2023 at 8:16 AM, OhtaniSan said:

Moniak is starting to make it impossible for him to be sent down again. As much as I love Ward, I think Moniak could be a useful platoon partner for him

At minimum Moniak needs to platoon LF with Ward (still irritated that he didn’t start Saturday night with twins starting a righty)!

He’s playing great right now, has a nice swing and a good all around game (not just a hitter). 

[Angel Oracle]

After today, Twins are likely tired of seeing Moniak.

[totdprods]

On 5/20/2023 at 3:27 AM, gurn67 said:

They've been in the lead 38 out of 46 games, and they're barely above .500. I've never seen an Angels' team this bad at holding leads. Usually, when they're bad, they have trouble even getting leads. They fall behind early, and stay there with the occasional late inning comeback.

The bright side is this seems like something that should start to average out in the Angels favor at some point.

Truthfully, this team was not well constructed. There were too many infielders without clear playing time, a total hole at 1B and SS defensively, too many redundant, optionless #5-6-type starters/long-relievers, zero catching depth, and a definite lack of back-of-bullpen octane. And this was pretty apparent going into and coming out of spring, and it’s played out almost exactly to script.

Optimistically, there is reason to think that things are gradually falling into place. Neto has stabilized SS. The infielders are slowly falling into regular roles in the infield - even if they aren’t executing. The bullpen is slowly becoming more flexible, the catching depth has someone stayed afloat, and hopefully Walsh will stabilize 1B. To me it was pretty obvious this team was going to need a month or two to sort of congeal, and they’ve kept their heads above water in spite of quite a bit. If health maintains, I imagine they’ll get a rhythm going soon, and I have to believe Arte and Perry are going to be aggressively buying as deadline nears. There’s nothing but urgency this season.