ANAHEIM, Calif._The Angels appear to have struck gold with Bud Norris this year. They handed him a measly invitation to spring training in January. The longtime starter won a spot in their bullpen, quickly ascended into a vacant closer's role, and succeeded.
On Thursday night at Angel Stadium, manager Mike Scioscia chose left-hander Jose Alvarez to save a one-run game, not Norris, and his decision backfired. Hampered by Jefry Marte's inability to catch a simple popup, Alvarez ceded the lead and took the loss in the Angels' 4-2 defeat to Minnesota.
In his four bids at home run No. 600, Albert Pujols struck out, singled, grounded out, and flied out. He will have three more games to reach that milestone at home before he must take this show to Detroit, where Jim Thome reached 600 six years ago.
Angels starter Alex Meyer retired all three Twins in the first inning. In the second, he hung a 1-and-2 curveball to Miguel Sano, who lofted it out to center, 10 feet beyond the outfield wall. Meyer then walked Max Kepler on four pitches and threw wildly on a pickoff attempt, allowing Kepler to take second. Meyer escaped the inning with two flyouts and a strikeout.
In the fourth, Meyer yielded consecutive singles to begin, then again escaped, this time on a flyout and a double play aided by a fast-paced throw from shortstop Andrelton Simmons. He finished the fifth and sixth innings with ease and started the seventh. When Jorge Polanco led off with a single, Meyer exited in favor of rookie reliever Keynan Middleton, who retired the three Twins he faced. David Hernandez handled the eighth before Alvarez entered for the ninth.
He retired the Twins' first hitter on a hard line drive back to him, then induced a popup that Marte missed and yielded a double to Eddie Rosario. Two runs scored on a Jason Castro single, and, for good measure, Norris walked in another run when he finally took the mound.
Twins rookie left-hander Adalberto Mejia was making his sixth career start. He began by walking Simmons on four pitches. Simmons took second when Kole Calhoun grounded out and third when Mejia balked. After Pujols struck out, Yunel Escobar rapped a ball bound for right field, but second baseman Brian Dozier slid to prevent it from doing so and threw to first for an out.
The Angels (28-29) managed little in the second and third innings. They notched back-to-back singles to begin the fourth before Marte tapped a ball to third. Sano fielded it, stepped on third and threw to Dozier, who quickly threw to first base to finish the triple play. It was the first triple play the Angels had hit into in 13 years, and the first the Twins had turned in 11 years. The Angels have been involved in 16 triple plays in their history, and their opponent has been the Twins in six of those instances.
The Angels notched their first run on a Calhoun home run in the sixth and challenged for another in the seventh. Marte walked and Martin Maldonado singled, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position without an out. Then Danny Espinosa and Eric Young Jr. struck out. After Ben Revere singled off reliever Tyler Duffey's glove to load the bases, Simmons took two called strikes and popped out harmlessly. He hurled his bat in disgust as soon as he finished his swing.
Calhoun, starting to surge after season-long struggles, lashed another home run to begin the eighth inning, again on the first pitch from left-hander Taylor Rogers.
