ARLINGTON, Texas — The Angels’ best and worst were all on display in the sixth inning of their 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
The Angels snapped a tie with three runs on five consecutive hits to start the inning, but their quest for an even bigger inning ended with one unfortunate swing of the bat.
Max Stassi grounded into a triple play, the first time the Angels had hit into a triple play in more than four years.
They were able to shrug it off because they still won the game, thanks to Patrick Sandoval weaving around trouble in his five innings and a lockdown performance from relievers Andrew Wantz, Aaron Loup and Jimmy Herget.
For Stassi, it was just another chapter in the second half of a season that he described just a day earlier as “horrible.”
Stassi came into the game in a 4-for-72 slump. After he struck out in the second, he singled in the fourth with Matt Duffy at second, but he didn’t even get an RBI because Duffy was thrown out at the plate.
In Stassi’s next trip, he came up with runners at first and second and no outs, just after the Angels had snapped a tie with three runs. He hit a grounder to third baseman Josh Jung, who stepped on the bag and started an around-the-horn triple play.
It was the first time the Angels hit into a triple play since Aug. 16, 2018, also at Texas. It was the 12th triple play against the Angels in franchise history.
They had a lead at the time thanks to Duffy’s two-run homer in the second and the five-hit rally immediately preceding the triple play. Shohei Ohtani, Taylor Ward, Duffy, Mike Ford and Jo Adell had collaborated to produce three runs.
The runs came just in time to get a victory for Sandoval, who had just thrown his final pitch of the night.
Sandoval gave up two runs in five innings, striking out seven and working around four walks.
Sandoval gave up a run two batters into the game after he walked Marcus Semien and gave up a double to Corey Seager. After that, though, he dominated the Rangers for four innings.
In the fifth, he gave up a two-out bunt single, followed by an RBI double from Semien. Sandoval escaped with no further damage, throwing his final pitch in a 2-2 game.
Wantz then worked two perfect innings. Loup gave up a hit but got a double play to face the minimum in the eighth. Herget then worked the ninth for his sixth save of the season.
