LOS ANGELES _ A season sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers was not on the Los Angeles Angels' minds.
But as the possibility of one developed following wins in the Angel Stadium games of the Freeway Series last month and another victory at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, the chance of four victories over their local rivals became tantalizing.
Unlike the Dodgers, the Angels are on the outskirts of the postseason chase. They still trail the division-leading Houston Astros by 11 { games. Yet they have managed to stay alive in the wild-card race despite the devastating loss of Tyler Skaggs and the 5.57 ERA posted by their starting pitchers in July.
So when the Angels bullpen allowed just one run through four innings in front of a rowdy sellout crowd of 53,371, a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday meant more to an Angels team trying to establish its identity as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. The win was the Angels' 12th in their last 18 games; it catapulted them to a 54-49 record, their first time this season they have been five games over .500.
One night after calling the series opener here the Angels' biggest win of the year, Mike Trout burst out of the batter's box on a ground ball to shortstop with a runner on first in the first inning. As he barreled down the line, the Dodgers settled for a force-out at second base. Trout had sprinted at a rate of 30.7 feet, nearly four feet per second better than the average base-running sprint speed. He was untouchable.
Trout, for the most part, remained out of the Dodgers' reach. When Kole Calhoun shot a two-out double into the right-field corner, Trout scored easily as Enrique Hernandez bobbled a relay throw. He charged a ball deep enough to left field in the sixth inning to drive in the Angels' third run on a sacrifice fly. Trout's RBI provided the difference in the game.
For a Dodgers squad that has proved itself the superior team in the National League, this interleague matchup provided little intrigue. Asked if avoiding a sweep, in turn avoiding falling to 40-14 at home, seemed like a necessity, Dave Roberts said "definitely not."
"I think that's a little too strong," he said. "I think that we expect to, we want to. I think that we played a good game yesterday and got beat. So today I think is just more looking at Ross (Stripling) giving us a good outing and guys taking good at-bats. We'll see what happens."
Roberts got his wish. Sort of. The Dodgers pulled ahead in counts against Angels starter Jaime Barria so often that his pitch-count surpassed 50 after three innings. But Barria, trying to rebound from a 3 2/3-inning outing in which he allowed 10 earned runs to the Seattle Mariners, performed favorably otherwise. Not counting Justin Turner's leadoff homer in the fourth that halved what was then a 2-0 Angels lead, Barria kept the Dodgers from advancing past first base in his five innings.
Stripling held up his end for Roberts. He turned in his fourth straight start without issuing a walk. Over five innings, most of the hard contact made against him went for outs. He threw an efficient 62 pitches. Only Calhoun's double and fourth-inning solo home run damaged his final line of two runs on three hits.
Yet Roberts had to be cautious with Stripling. After batting for himself in the fifth inning, Stripling was replaced by reliever JT Chargois. Chargois promptly allowed a hit, stolen base and run. Meanwhile, Stripling was nowhere to be seen in the dugout. He was later announced to have a stiff neck.
Hernandez departed the game, too, after receiving a visit from Roberts and a trainer during his fourth-inning at-bat. The Dodgers described the infielder's ailment as left hand soreness.
The Dodgers are cruising, their 67 wins prior to Wednesday's game the most in the major leagues. They owned a 15-game lead in their division, so far ahead not even the surging San Francisco Giants (52-51) presented an urgent threat.
Injuries might be the only things that can trouble the Dodgers now.
