ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Tommy La Stella already has hit 15 outside-the-park home runs this season, five more than he hit in 396 games over his first five big-league seasons.
Perhaps bored with the leisurely trots that accompany such long balls, the Los Angeles Angels' accidental slugger tried something new Tuesday night, racing around the bases for his first inside-the-park homer to jump-start a 5-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds before an announced crowd of 37,260 in Angel Stadium.
Luis Rengifo snapped a 1-1 tie with a three-run homer to right field in the second inning, left-hander Andrew Heaney survived a rocky first inning to earn the win, and relievers Noe Ramirez, Ty Buttrey and Hansel Robles combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings to push the Angels (40-40) to .500 for the seventh time this season.
La Stella led off the first with a drive to deep center. Reds outfielder Nick Senzel crashed into the wall as the ball hit the heel of his glove and caromed about 60 feet toward right-center. That gave La Stella, who is not especially fast, enough time to circle the bases and slide home without a play.
It was the first inside-the-park homer by an Angel since Peter Bourjos hit one on April 11, 2012, at Minnesota, and the first in Angel Stadium since Chone Figgins hit one against Oakland on Sept. 29, 2006.
Rengifo, making a strong case to remain with the Angels when shortstop Andrelton Simmons returns from injury, followed Albert Pujols' second-inning single and David Fletcher's walk with a 408-foot homer off Cincinnati starter Tyler Mahle. Rengifo is batting .245 with three homers and 17 RBIs in 41 games.
The Angels tacked on a run in the seventh when Wilfredo Tovar alertly scored from second on Shohei Ohtani's deep fly to left fielder Jose Peraza, who appeared to think it was the third out.
Heaney was a master of alliteration after his last start, a 3 2/3-inning, four-run, five-hit, four-walk effort in last Wednesday's 11-6 win over Toronto that he described as "poor, putrid, pitiful."
Six batters into Tuesday night's game _ strikeout, solo homer by Joey Votto, walk, fly out, singles by Jose Iglesias and Phillip Ervin _ it appeared Heaney might need a thesaurus for some new words to describe his struggles. But Heaney limited the damage to one run with help from his defense.
With two on, La Stella knocked down Ervin's infield single with a dive into the second-base hole and fired home in time to catch Eugenio Suarez, who was tagged out in a rundown to end the inning.
Heaney gave up a leadoff single to Peraza in the second inning but picked him off. Senzel doubled and Votto walked to lead off the third, then Heaney struck out Suarez with a nice curve and got Yasiel Puig to ground to Pujols, who started a nifty inning-ending 3-6-1 double play.
Heaney threw hitless fourth and fifth innings and was pulled after walking Suarez with one out in the sixth. Ramirez struck out Puig, who was ejected by umpire Kerwin Danley for arguing the third-strike call.
Reds manager David Bell also was tossed after a heated exchange with Danley. A disgusted Puig tossed his bat and helmet in the home-plate circle before leaving the field.
Ramirez struck out two of three in the seventh to run his scoreless streak to 16 1/3 innings over his last 10 appearances, and Buttrey struck out two of three in the eighth. Robles gave up two hits in a scoreless ninth.
Pujols returned from a three-day love-fest in St. Louis, where he received numerous standing ovations from fans saluting the former Cardinals slugger's 11-year run (2001-2011) as the most dangerous right-handed hitter in the game, to an unfamiliar position: the sixth spot in the batting order.
With Justin Upton back after missing 2 { months because of a toe injury and Ohtani returning to the lineup after three games in St. Louis without a designated hitter, manager Brad Ausmus said he wanted to alternate between left-handed and right-handed hitters in the first six spots.
But it marked the first time since Pujols' rookie year _ an Aug. 7, 2001, game against the Montreal Expos _ that Pujols had hit lower than fifth.
"I was not aware of that, but it doesn't surprise me at all," Ausmus said. "He's one of the greatest hitters ever."
