ANAHEIM, Calif._The baseball landed in between the men left standing in Angel Stadium's home bullpen, an appropriate resting spot for the most important hit in a game defined by relievers. C.J. Cron had anticipated the two-strike slider hurtling his way, and he timed it just right.
Four hundred and twenty-seven feet from home plate, Cron's two-run home run grazed the edge of the dirt mound, as his faraway teammates celebrated. The Angels had what they needed to secure a tense 7-6 victory over Texas on Friday.
On Thursday afternoon, Bud Norris wondered who would start this game for the Angels. Late that night, Angels manager Mike Scioscia approached him in the clubhouse kitchen with unexpected news: It'd be him.
Norris had started 185 major league games, but not one in 2017. He was this team's closer for much of the season. So, it was a curious choice. But someone had to be the first of many relievers to emerge from the Angels' bullpen.
The ordering seemed to work. Norris needed only seven pitches to finish the first inning and 10 to complete the second, helped by Cron's sliding spear of a Joey Gallo line drive at first base.
After Will Middlebrooks singled to begin the third, Scioscia turned to the rest of his bullpen. First, he called in Jose Alvarez, then Blake Wood, then Jesse Chavez, then Yusmeiro Petit, then Cam Bedrosian and, finally, Blake Parker.
Facing Rangers right-hander Nick Martinez, the Angels scored first. To begin the fourth, Justin Upton stroked a double to left-center. With one out, Kole Calhoun bounced a ball on top of the short wall near the left-field foul pole. It bounced back onto the field went as an RBI double, despite Scioscia's protests that it should count as a home run. Andrelton Simmons single scored Calhoun, rendering the ruling insignificant. Luis Valbuena's light effort out of the batter's box when he next tapped a ball to second base was significant. It allowed the Rangers to turn an easy double play and end the inning.
Texas then matched the Angels' output in each of the next two innings against Chavez. In the fifth, Gallo earned a single on a dribbler, Middlebrooks drilled a double to the wall, and Brett Nicholas singled to score them both. In the sixth, Delino DeShields singled, and Shin-Soo Choo shot a homer onto the tip of the wall, too, just a few feet from where Calhoun's double hit. But Choo's ball bounced into the stands, so it went as a homer.
The Rangers led 4-2 but only until the bottom of the inning. Mike Trout led off with a single and scored when Upton doubled again. Calhoun walked, and Simmons singled into right to score Upton and tie the score. Valbuena skied a sacrifice fly to push the Angels ahead, and Cron sauntered to home plate.
The Angels managed no more offense after his strike. While striking out in the seventh inning, Brandon Phillips appeared in pain, and he did not take the field in the eighth inning. Kaleb Cowart replaced him at second base. The team did not immediately announce what ailed him.
Even staked to a three-run lead, Bedrosian found trouble in the eighth, loading the bases without recording an out. Quickly, Scioscia turned to Parker, his reliever most likely to produce a strikeout. Parker notched only one strikeout, but he also did not surrender any hits. Two Texas sacrifice flies made it a one-run game.
Left in for another inning with no one warming behind him, Parker retired the Rangers in order. The Angels gained a game on Minnesota, pushing along the seesaw their playoff chances have rested on all season. They're two games out now.
____
Short hops
Reliever Keynan Middleton, who exited a Thursday appearance because of irritation in the ulnar nerve within his elbow, played catch Friday. Scioscia termed Middleton day-to-day but said he would have to complete a bullpen session before he could resume pitching in games. ... Left-hander Andrew Heaney did not throw Friday for the third consecutive day. Scioscia said Heaney was waiting for medicine to take hold within his sore shoulder. ... The Angels sent right-hander Elvin Rodriguez to Detroit to complete the teams' Aug. 31 trade for Upton. Rodriguez, 19, reached low Class-A last month. The Dominican Republic native was not highly ranked in the Angels' farm system, but produced solid statistics in limited innings.
