Angels serve up extra helpings of buttercuppery goodness in 13 inning loss to Astros

Angels 6 Astros 8

Today's series finale against the Astros, hitting at the peak of a summery Memorial Day weekend, was a back and forth affair that had both teams trading blows until the very end. It was entertaining, and frustrating...which is something that could be said of many Angels games this season already, especially the latter but I'm thankful for the former even when it's a loss.

The Angels got on the board first, and they did it quick style, via Kole Calhoun home run in the bottom of the first. Angels starter Nick Tropeano had a little lead to work with, and he'd do his best to keep it, up until the fifth inning when the quality of his outing turned from "good" to "d'oh". In the fifth, NiTro gave up a two-run homer to Jake Marisnick, and the an RBI single to Jose Altuve.

It was 3-1 Astros, and after Tropeano got himself out of that side, his day would be done. It wasn't nearly as pretty and efficient as his last game, not by a long shot, giving up five walks in his five innings pitched, along with seven hits and four earned runs.

The Angels would do their best to pick him up, however, and Mike Trout got the comeback campaign started with an RBI single in the fifth. The Astros would get a run back in the sixth, off of reliever Cam Bedrosian, making it 4-2, but the Angels kept the pedal to the metal and got right back at it with a Jett Bandy RBI off of a groundout in the bottom of the sixth, and then Albert Pujols tied up the game at 4-4 with an RBI single of his own in the seventh. Next, Johnny Giavotella safety squeezed a run home and like that, the Angels had rallied back to a 5-4 lead. Giavotella had himself a nice day, doing things at the plate and on the field (like making a sweet jumping catch at second to save a hit).

Unfortunately, the Astros weren't ready to just hand over the game, and Fernando Salas obliged. Luis Valbuena hit an RBI single off of Salas in the eighth, tying up the game at 5-5 and that's where it stayed up until the bottom of the ninth. Who was headed to the plate in the ninth? Oh, just Calhoun/Trout/Pujols...all eyes were fixated upon the Halos, waiting to witness some walk-off magic.

Kole Calhoun went down, Mike Trout walked and Pujols got a shallow single that put men on first and second, one out. Johnny Giavotella had his crack at being a hero, but ultimately K'd, and then it was Rafael Ortega's turn to win the game, but he went down with a grounder to first. On to extras they went...

About those extras: the Angels basically wasted a bunch of opportunities and ended up losing 8-6 in 13 innings. Buttercup supreme. That's all that you need to know. Go enjoy your evening.