After a tragic injury took their starting pitcher in the bottom of the second inning, the Angels looked more like a TEAM than ever before. Garrett Richards strained his Patella (aka kneecap) covering 1B on a grounder and was carted off the field on a stretcher. Down 2-0 at that point, Cory Rasmus got out of a two-on, two-out jam.
Rasmus started the third inning by giving up a solo home run to David Ortiz but settled down and pitched a scoreless fourth. The Angels bats roared to life and scored on in the fourth and five runs in the fifth to give Rasmus the W. Mike Morin, Fernando Salas, Kevin Jepsen, Joe Smith and Huston Street each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
Howie Kendrick got the scoring started for the Halos off of Clay Buchholz in the top of the fourth with a run-scoring single. His neat At-Bat came after four other runs had crossed the plate for his team, starting with a bases-loaded walk to Kole Calhoun. Howie singled in Albert Pujols for the sixth Halo run of the game.
Not to be outdone by Kendrick's two RBI, Josh Hamilton warmed up on cue and had three runs batted in and also scored a run. the only hitless starers in the game were Chris Iannetta and Mike Torut - although Trout had a Fielders Choice that drove in a run in that big fifth inning rally and Iannetta did reach base via the BB. David Freese was the only Angel who had neither a run scored or an RBI. It can go on all night with these mixes and matches, folks, suffice to say, the Angels did not let a severe blow to their team stop them from executing on the field to come from behind and win.
And speaking of winning - the Halos are one and half games ahead in the AL West with their 75th win of the season. Light Up That Halo!