Angels avoid the broom and ride Dillon Peters to a game 3 victory

Angels 7 Pirates 4

Going into this series, the Pirates had only won 4 games in their last 29. They then proceed ed two grab the first two games in this series which was not a great look for the Angels.

That made fans all the more anxious when the Pirates got off to a 2 run lead in the 1st inning thanks to shaky Dillon Peters who hit two batters and walked one. Peters would settle down, facing only 3 batters in the 2nd and 3rd, and just over batter over minimum in the 4th-6th. In total, Peters allowed only 2 runs over 6 strong innings. Rick and surmised that Peters in his very few starts might now be leading in quality starts on the team. Well, he wasn’t far off. Peters is now tied for 2nd in QS with 3. Griffin Canning currently has the lead at 5.

Peters got in line for the win after the Angels scored 4 in the 4th. Mike Trout led off with a walk (the stole 2nd) and 3 batters later with 2 outs, Albert Pujols drove him home with career hit #3,167 - the most ever for a foreign born player. The milestones just keep coming for The Machine. David Fletcher also doubled in the inning and Luis Rengifo hit himself a little league home run thanks to a misplay by Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds.

The Pirates added on a run in the 7th and 9th but no matter. In the 8th, the Angels added some insurance thanks to a 2 RBI single by Pujols, and another RBI by Rengifo.

Every single Angels player save for Anthony Bemboom (who struck out 3 times - is the love affair over so soon?) was on base this game. The Angels pulled off this game despite striking out 14 times - 9 times alone by the top 4 hitters.