Angels & A's back-and-forth slugfest ends with an Albert Pujols walk-off homer

Angels 8 Athletics 6

The Angels and A's game last night had a lot of action; it had homers galore, it had a great Matt Shoemaker start and it had a career night from Cam Bedrosian. What did the two clubs have in store for the second game of the series? How about a good ol' fashioned, back-and-forth slug fest? Because that's what we got tonight.

First blood was drawn by Billy Butler, who put the A’s on board in the second with a ground out. The Angels answered back in the bottom of that same inning with a Carlos Perez RBI single.

Steven Vogt managed to drive in a run for Oakland in the third, when Yunel Escobar misplayed a grounder to third, much to the delight of Jered Weaver, who looked really, really happy about that play. Yes, that’s sarcasm. But yet again, the Angels bounced right back, with Mike Trout singling in the bottom of the third and tying the game at 2-2.

Ryon Healy didn’t allow that tie to last all that long, as he hit a two-run double in the fourth, giving the Athletics a 4-2 lead. Then, as was the order of the evening, the Halos tied things right back up in their first turn at bat after going down. Jefry Marte homered for the second night in a row, the second time he’s had homers in consecutive games this season, and utility guy Cliff Pennington followed him with a homer of his own. Those two solo shots knotted the game back up at four apiece.

In the fifth, an Albert Pujols double and a Ji-Man Choi ground out would tack two more on for the Angels, and they now had the 6-4 lead. They just had to hold on to it.

Weaver would end up going six innings tonight, giving up nine hits and those four runs, three earned. After being lifted, Fernando Salas got an innings work and then J.C. Ramirez got an inning of relief. Salas got out with no further damage, but Ramirez got the Angels in trouble for the second game in a row.

At one point, the bases were loaded up, and Ramirez walked in a run. The inning could have actually been way worse, but luckily Escobar, Pennington and Choi combined for a pretty sweet double play that ended the threat.

The Angels now only had a 6-5 lead, but they would head to the ninth looking towards Cam Bedrosian to get the victory wrapped up and have everybody drive home safely, and happily. Perhaps he used up all his magic for this week in his first career save, because he didn't have much of it left tonight. He walked three batters (although he did get squeezed on a couple calls) and gave up an RBI single to Steven Vogt. The game was tied at 6-6 and Bedrosian's attempt at Angels closer came up way, way short.

The Angels had been trading punches with the A's all night, and just when it looked like they had created some separation and were ready to go home, they let Oakland come back in the game. Did they have anything left in the tank? Did they have one last punch? If they did, it needed to be a knockout blow.

Well. Albert Pujols is a damn knockout machine, then. With Trout on base from an error and gutsy dive at first, Albert Pujols took the Athletics' reliever deep to left field. It was an absolute monster of a dinger, and it immediately shot a lightning bolt into the Big A and lit that freakin' halo up. Albert Pujols with the walk-off, saving the game, saving the day.

Fun stuff, guys. Fun stuff. This was a slobberknocker, in the parlance of Jim Ross, and the Angels managed to come out on top somehow. Crazy, insane and victorious. Just the way I like my Angels baseball.