Baseball is a game of inches, replay screens, and sheer dumb luck. On Wednesday night in Anaheim, the Los Angeles Angels needed all three to escape with a 3-2 win over the Houston Astros in ten innings.
It shouldn’t have been this hard.
Reid Detmers was dealing. The lefty retired his first 15 batters like he was throwing against high schoolers. He looked untouchable. Then, the sixth inning arrived. Shay Whitcomb ruined the perfect game bid with a solo shot. Still, Detmers finished seven brilliant innings with nine strikeouts, zero walks, and just that lone hit. He deserved a win.
He didn’t get it.
The Angels bullpen did what bullpens do. Chase Silseth entered in the eighth and immediately served up a game-tying homer to Cam Smith. Just like that, a 2-0 lead evaporated. Mike Trout’s first-inning blast and Logan O’Hoppe’s fifth-inning solo shot suddenly felt like ancient history.
Then came the ninth. Chaos reigned.
Yordan Alvarez singled, extending his on-base streak to 17 games. Christian Walker followed with a double. Alvarez chugged home, sliding in safe. Or so the umpire thought. The Angels challenged. Replay officials in New York squinted at the screens and overturned the call. Out at the plate. Crisis averted.
In the tenth, Ryan Zeferjahn kept Houston quiet to earn the win. That set the stage for Jose Siri against Astros reliever Bryan Abreu.
Facing his former club, Siri stepped up with runners on the corners after a Donovan Walton pinch-hit single. The count went to 0-2. Siri didn’t panic. He lined a pitch into left field, sending Nick Madrigal home. Game over.
Peter Lambert kept Houston in it early, giving up two runs over six and a third. It wasn’t enough. The Astros head to Kansas City on Friday. The Angels host Tampa Bay. Both teams look tired. That’s baseball.
