MINNEAPOLIS - Playing another close game against the last-place Minnesota Twins, the Los Angeles Angels finally decided enough was enough.
The Angels pounded out a season-high 19 hits and broke open a tie game in the middle innings, scoring nine runs in the fifth and sixth frames en route to a 14-4 win over the Twins Sunday at Target Field.
The victory capped a four-game series sweep for the Angels over the Twins and gave Los Angeles a 7-0 record against Minnesota this season. It was the fifth time this season the Angels have finished a four-game series sweep.
“It’s not easy to do,” said Angels skipper Mike Scioscia. “Four-game series are tough, especially on the road. It’s a grind, it’s tough to win them and it’s really tough to sweep them. We’ve hit some teams when we’ve been playing good baseball and been able to keep some things rolling.”
Shortstop Erick Aybar’s sacrifice fly with one out in the fifth inning opened the floodgates and gave the Angels the lead. Second baseman Howie Kendrick followed with a two-run triple before the Angels broke the game open with a six-run sixth.
First baseman C.J. Cron belted a two-run homer and Aybar scored on a wild pitch to make the score 9-3. Designated hitter Albert Pujols added an RBI double and catcher Chris Iannetta singled in two more to make it 12-3 through six.
“The bats picked us up this whole series,” Scioscia said. “It’s good to see the guys get in a groove. The offense took a lot of pressure off, especially our bullpen.”
Kendrick added another RBI single in the seventh, as did pinch hitter Shawn O’Malley, who got credit for a hit and an RBI with an infield single in his first major league at-bat.
“They kept swinging and the ball kept flying,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It was just one of those days. We’re trying to get through a ball game with those young kids out there and see what they can do; a rough day.”
For Kendrick, he finished the day a double short of the cycle - the second time in the series he finished only one hit shy of reaching it. He tripled for the second straight game, the first time in his career he’s done that. Overall, he went 10-for-18 with two doubles, two triples, a homer and eight RBIs this weekend.
“I’ve been hitting the ball good the whole second half,” Kendrick said. “Whether it’s right at somebody or not, I’ve felt good. It just feels good to actually see some balls fall in.”
Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson almost didn’t survive the second after allowing three straight walks to start the inning, followed by a two-run double by center fielder Aaron Hicks and a sacrifice fly by second baseman Brian Dozier, giving the Twins a 3-1 lead.
But Wilson settled in after that, retiring 14 of the next 15 batters he faced - allowing only one more walk and an infield single the rest of the way - before being removed in the seventh inning. Wilson allowed three runs on four hits and four walks. He fanned six and improved to 11-9.
“I didn’t really make a drastic change or anything like that (after the second inning),” Wilson said. “It was just knowing that after we scored, we got those runs back, I felt like, ‘OK, we’re going to score runs today.’ Yeah, I gave up three, but we’re gonna score and I had that confidence of throwing it where I know they weren’t going to hurt me. I could keep it out of their individual sweet spots.”
Twins lefty Logan Darnell got the start in place of Tommy Milone, whose turn in the rotation was skipped after he reported dead arm symptoms earlier in the week. Darnell allowed five runs on five hits and a walk in 41⁄3 innings of work, dropping to 0-2.
“They’re swinging the bat well the last couple days,” Darnell said. “They’re very aggressive, which is good for them. You don’t want to make a mistake to anybody, but they seemed to make me pay for the ones I made today.”
Darnell served up early home runs to Kendrick in the second and a two-run shot in the third to Mike Trout, tying the game at 3 apiece.
LA Angels 14, Twins 4
LAA ab r h bi MIN ab r h bi
Aybar ss 4 1 2 1 Dozier 2b 2 0 1 1
Jimenez pr 1 1 0 0 Bernier 2b 2 0 0 0
Trout cf 4 3 2 2 Nunez lf 4 0 1 0
Beckham 2b 0 0 0 0 Mauer dh 3 0 0 0
Pujols dh 4 2 2 1 Fryer ph 1 0 0 0
O’Mally ph 2 0 2 1 Vargas 1b 4 1 1 1
Kndrick 2b 4 2 3 4 Plouffe 3b 1 1 0 0
Campana pr 1 0 0 0 Hrrmann lf 1 0 1 0
Freese 3b 3 0 1 0 Pinto c 3 1 0 0
McDonld 3b 1 0 0 0 Parml rf 3 1 0 0
Ianntta c 4 0 1 2 Escobar ss 4 0 1 0
Buck ph 2 0 0 0 Hicks cf 4 0 1 2
Green lf 2 0 0 0
Calhoun rf 4 1 1 0
LeBlanc rp 0 0 0 0
Cron 1b 3 2 2 2
Navarro 1b 2 1 2 0
Cowgill rf 5 1 1 0
Totals 46 14 19 13 Totals 32 4 6 4
LA Angels 012 036 200 - 14
Minnesota 030 000 010 - 4
E-Hicks 1, Jo.McDonald 1, K.Vargas 1. LOB-Minnesota 6, Los Angeles 11. 2B-Cowgill (10), Cron (11), Hicks (6), Pujols (34), Trout (37). 3B-H.Kendrick (5). HR-Cron (10), H.Kendrick (6), Trout (32), K.Vargas (7).
IP H R ER BB SO
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LA Angels
C.Wilson W, 11-9 6 Z\c 4 3 3 4 6
Pestano 1 X\c 2 1 1 0 3
LeBlanc 1 0 0 0 0 1
Minnesota
Darnell L, 0-2 4 X\c 5 5 5 1 3
Achter 1 5 5 2 0 1
Oliveros Z\c 2 2 2 2 0
Pressly 1 4 2 2 0 0
Duensing 1 2 0 0 0 2
Thielbar 1 1 0 0 1 2
Inherited runners-scored-Pestano 2-0, Achter 1-1, Oliveros 2-2. HBP-Beckham (by Thielbar). WP-Oliveros 2 (2).
Umpires-Home, John Tumpane; First, Paul Emmel; Second, Bill Welke; Third, James Hoye.
T-3:20. A-25,419 (42,035)
