ANAHEIM — Travis d’Arnaud had a simple explanation this week for his recent hot streak, saying he was just trying “to be consistent, stay calm and have a slow heartbeat” when he steps to the plate.
The veteran catcher displayed all of those qualities in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, stroking a pinch-hit RBI single to left field to give the Angels a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks before a crowd of 35,209 at Angel Stadium.
Logan O’Hoppe sparked the winning rally when he was hit by a Kyle Backhus pitch with one out. Luis Rengifo lined a single to center, and d’Arnaud, batting for Gustavo Campero, delivered the fifth walk-off hit of his career.
The Angels had taken a 5-4 lead on Rengifo’s RBI double in the fifth, and they got perfect relief innings from left-hander Brock Burke in the sixth and right-hander Jose Fermin, who struck out two of three batters in the seventh.
Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery summoned left-hander Reid Detmers, who had his 22-inning scoreless streak snapped in Wednesday night’s victory over the Texas Rangers, for the eighth.
Detmers got Josh Naylor to ground out to first base but caught too much of the plate with a 91-mph slider to Randal Grichuk, who sent a 411-foot drive over the center-field wall for a 5-5 tie and the 13th multi-homer of his career.
The Angels had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth when Nolan Schanuel doubled with one out, Mike Trout was intentionally walked and Schanuel stole third without a throw.
But Taylor Ward swung through a full-count changeup from reliever Anthony DeSclafani for strike three, and Jo Adell popped out to shallow left-center, Arizona left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. making a lunging catch after a long run.
Angels closer Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth, getting Gurriel to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play, to keep the score tied.
Angels starter Tyler Anderson reached 10 years of major-league service time on Friday night, a significant milestone that only 7% of players who make it to the major leagues achieve, but the veteran left-hander didn’t have much to celebrate.
Anderson needed 84 pitches to grind through five innings in which he gave up four runs and eight hits, struck out three and walked two, and he coughed up an early 4-0 lead when he gave up four runs on five hits in the second.
But Anderson escaped a two-on, no-outs jam in the third when he struck out Grichuk and got Blaze Alexander to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, and he added a scoreless fourth and fifth inning before turning the game over to the bullpen.
The Angels’ offense positioned Anderson for a win by snapping a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the fifth, a rally that featured two rare events, a two-out walk by O’Hoppe, who had drawn 11 free passes in 287 plate appearances entering Friday, and a stolen base by the burly catcher, who had swiped two bags in 267 major-league games before Friday.
That put O’Hoppe in position to score easily on Rengifo’s RBI double to right field for a 5-4 Angels lead.
But Grichuk’s homer off Detmers in the eighth prevented Anderson from notching his first victory since April 18, an 11-start stretch in which Anderson has lost six decisions.
The Angels got off to a great start Friday night when Zach Neto jump-started a four-run, five-hit rally in the bottom of the first with his seventh leadoff home run of the season, a 434-foot bomb to left field that tied Brian Downing’s franchise record of seven leadoff homers in 1987.
Schanuel walked and took third on Trout’s double, a laser to left-center that left the slugger’s bat at 113 mph. Ward’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.
Adell flied out to center, but Yoán Moncada blasted a first-pitch fastball from Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson for a towering two-run homer to right and a 4-0 Angels lead.
But that lead vanished five batters into the top of the second, Grichuk crushing a 430-foot two-run homer to left, Alexander and Alek Thomas hitting back-to-back doubles for a run and Jose Herrera adding an RBI single to pull the Diamondbacks even at 4-4.
More to come on this story.