Angels try something new and end the week with a win by finishing the series with an opener

Angels 8 Mariners 6

News came out a few hours before the game that the Angels would be using Hansel Robles to start the game instead of Jaime Barria who had been listed. It worked for Tampa last year so why not give it a shot? After all, the Angels were licking their wounds from dropping 6 straight games going into Easter Sunday.

The Angels played 7 games this week and out-hit their opponent in 5 of them, yet until Sunday they couldn’t pull off a win. It’s pretty rough when you have so many lobsters because you can’t string enough hits together - thanks to black holes in the lineup. But not today! Every single Angels hitter (aside from Cozart) had a hit in this game and until the 7th inning, all their runs had been scored by the long ball. Andreton Simmons stayed hot as well, increasing his hit streak to 7 games.

But let’s talk about Tommy La Stella for a minute. Almost no one probably thought “Tommy La Stella as DH is super scary to opposing pitchers”, but there he was, hitting two home runs in a game for the second time this year, AND already passing his career high home runs in a season which formerly stood at 5.

Mike Trout just missed a homer himself with a double off the wall. He went on to go 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles and 2 more walks - leading all of baseball with 20 total free bases.

Defense was on point as well with Calhoun and Trout notching an outfield assist apiece. Here is Calhoun’s key play in the 2nd - with an assist from Justin Bour:

It was a beautiful game, at least until Noe Ramirez collapsed in the top of the 9th, giving up 3 runs on back to back home runs - followed by Cody Allen collapsing and gave up 2 more runs. Seriously - can’t we just have an easy victory?? It’s a good thing the Angels had a large lead so the only thing affected was Ramirez’s and Allen’s ERA.

Happy Victory Day - Bring on The Pinstripes!!