ANAHEIM — That was a pain-free hit by pitch for Jo Adell.
“That’s one of those you don’t even feel right there, when you get hit by a pitch with a walk-off,” Adell said with a smile after he was plunked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, driving in the winning run in the Angels’ 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.
The Angels trailed by a run and were facing All-Star closer Riley O’Brien before mounting a rally.
“It was great,” Manager Kurt Suzuki said. “The guys never give up. That’s something that I’ve said all year. These guys fight to the end and it’s fun to be around. It really is, you know? I know the record is not where we want to be, but every night, every day, these guys come in, they show up, they prepare themselves, they enjoy each other, and fight to the end. And tonight was a good ending.”
The ending took José Soriano off the hook for what would have been a hard-luck loss on a night that he had his best outing in months. Still, the Angels trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth.
Nolan Schanuel singled with one out. Jorge Soler was then hit by a pitch. Vaughn Grissom hit one off the top of the right field fence, scoring pinch-runner Oswald Peraza from second and sending pinch-runner José Siri to third.
Josh Lowe was then intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing up Adell, who had provided the Angels’ first run of the game with a homer that snapped an 0-for-24 slump.
“It’s no secret I’ve been struggling the past week,” Adell said. “Just getting back to seeing pitches and not trying to do too much. I feel like my first at-bat was kind of example of just waiting it out and finding a pitch and really just tried to do that throughout the course of the game, so good things happen.”
The rally gave the Angels (40-61) their first back-to-back victories since June 27-28, and it prevented Soriano from taking a loss on a night when he gave up two runs in seven innings.
Soriano, who is a candidate to be traded before the Aug. 3 deadline, had a 5.15 ERA in his previous 14 games.
“I thought he pitched great,” Suzuki said. “He attacked. I thought he was on the attack all night. Even during the second inning (when he gave up two runs), I thought he was on the attack and really didn’t waver after that. He just came back, got back on it and went seven innings. It’s nice to see that.”
In the second, Soriano gave up hits to three of the first four hitters in the inning had hits, producing a run.
Soriano could have gotten out of the inning if third baseman Denzer Guzman had been able to turn a double play on a grounder hit right to him. Guzman backed up on the ball, and bobbled it, so he had time to just get one out as the second run of the inning scored.
After that, Soriano cruised through the Cardinals’ lineup with an efficiency that has been rare for him lately.
Soriano gave up just one more hit and one walk over the next five innings, finishing his night with 95 pitches. It was the first time he had gotten an out in the seventh inning since May 21. It was the first time any Angels starter had gotten an out in the seventh since June 16.
Soriano also showed exceptional control. Soriano came into the game leading the league in walks, but he issued only one walk on Monday. Soriano threw a first-pitch strike to 16 of 25 hitters (64%). He also threw strikes with 67% of his pitches.
“I think everything was working, just because I was throwing a lot of strikes,” Soriano said. “I think that put my pitches in better position and that’s why I got the result I had.”
He was headed for a loss because the Angels’ bats were frigid against Cardinals right-hander Kyle Leahy.
Adell hit a third-inning homer, his 14th of the season, but that was it for the Angels.
The Angels had just two other singles in seven innings against Leahy, and they didn’t put a runner into scoring position. One of the runners was quickly erased on a double play.
Adell led off the eighth with a single, but he was stranded.