Choi shows off but Morin chokes and Angels miss out on a sweep

Angels 6 Athletics 8

Mike Trout didn't start the game due to a "head cold", which really means he faked being sick to throw off rumors that he's not human.  It may even work for a little while.  Also out for the second day in a row was Johnny Giavotella, but that certainly had nothing to do with non-human rumors. Someone had to keep Trout company on the bench, right?  I mean, besides Tim Lincecum, who was originally tapped to start this game until Nolasco arrived in Anaheim.

Ricky Nolasco made his Halo debut tonight and it took exactly 7 pitches for Max Muncy to become a fan of the newest halo when he deposited his first 2016 homerun over the right field wall.  Not to be outdone, and possibly because I just posted how Choi should play less, we saw a great Choi bomb over that same right field wall in the second inning.  In fact, Choi would further rub salt in my wound when he launched ANOTHER ball over the right field wall in the third.  Choi was single handedly responsible for 4 of the 5 Angels runs up to this point.

By the top of the 4th, it became clear that Nolasco's Angel debut was far from spectacular.  He even did the best job he could making us not miss Hector Santiago by giving up 3 homeruns and spreading them out over 3 innings.  Starting off an inning with a homerun, single, and double is generally not going to end well, and that's exactly what Nolasco did in the 4th.  He turned a 5-2 lead into a 5-5 tie and quickly erased the power of the Ji-Man.

Coco Crisp is a bad, bad, man and also can make a hell of a play out in Left Field.  Choi decided hitting homeruns to right field was getting boring so he took one deep to left.  Crisp leaped up and into the stands and took homerun #3 away from poor Choi.  It doesn't get much meaner than that.  I mean really Crisp?  You guys are going nowhere.  Let the Ji-Man enjoy his 3 homerun game.  Instead, the run was saved and the game stayed knotted up at 5.

Nolasco's final line on the night was 6IP, 6 hits, 0 walks, 3 homeruns, 4K, 5 ER.  Not the start he really wanted, but he left the game with a no decision and Hector Santiago notched his first loss as a Twin.  Miss him yet? Jhoulys Chacin started the 7th and proved he's not infallible when he walked the first two batters and ultimately gave up the lead.

When the Halos got two runners on base with 1 out in the 8th, Mike Trout sucked it up, and came in for a pinch hit appearance.  Apparently even a sick dude can draw a walk on 4 straight pitches, and the bases were loaded for Mr. Johnny G who came through with a game-tying infield single.  Knotted up again and the game was soon extra innings bound.  Bonus baseball!!

Mike Morin's second game back turned out to be one huge bust when he got 3rd out-itis gave up 4 consecutive 2 out hits and gave up the lead as well.  When the Angels failed to score in the bottom of the 10th, Morin took the loss and the Angels missed the sweep (but still won the series - yay?).