ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Rookie Matt Thaiss was a hero for the Angels on Sunday. His walk-off home run in a 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles snapped a three-game losing streak at Angel Stadium.
He sent the seventh pitch he saw from Orioles reliever Mychal Givens _ a center cut fastball _ 394 feet to right field. After he rounded the bases and stood on the field for an interview, a teammate dunked a cooler of sports drink over the 24-year-old's head.
The home run was Thaiss' second of the game, and his third of a disappointing series against the Orioles.
The high of a sweep over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the best team in the National League, did not sustain the Angels as they returned home to face the Orioles. Their two most effective relievers stumbled in the eighth and ninth innings of a nearly 6 {-hour game. Their emergency starter gave up seven runs the next night. A rally fell short, extending their losing streak against one of the worst teams in the major leagues to three on Saturday.
The only thing they had going for them was the equally topsy-turvy series the Oakland Athletics played with the Texas Rangers. Oakland, however, beat Texas on Sunday to remain five games ahead of the Angels in the wild-card standings.
Angels starter Felix Pena provided a scare. His right thumb began to bleed after two outs in the second inning. He encountered a similar problem in his last outing against the Dodgers. Pena left the field, seemingly to exit the game. But he returned moments later, his thumb tended to. He made it through five innings.
He allowed a 2-0 lead get away from him. After Thaiss clobbered his two-run homer into the right-field corner in the second inning, Pena could not prevent Jonathan Villar from exacting damage on the Angels for a fourth day in a row. He knocked an RBI double in the third for his eighth hit of the series. Villar finished with three on Sunday.
Following a perfect fourth, Pena ran into trouble in the fifth, this time on defense. With two out and a runner on first, he mishandled a comebacker to the mound. The ball skipped up his glove and hit the ground. He received an error on the play. Villar took advantage of the moment, lacing a run-scoring single to left field that was bobbled by Brian Goodwin.
The Orioles' 4-2 lead only lasted until Albert Pujols hit a game-tying two-run homer. The blast was the 650th of his career.
Luke Bard and Taylor Cole each had scoreless outings to keep the game close.
The trade deadline is three days away. The Angels' approach to it has not changed: They will continue to search for controllable assets who can help them beyond this season.
But a series victory over the Orioles might have helped the Angels better determine their path ahead of the final two months of the season. Now they must decide how seriously to take their wild-card contention without the benefit of the 57-win cushion they could have had if they won the 16-inning game and completed a late rally Saturday night.
All they can do now is wait on the front office to make a potential move.
