Juan Rivera’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th inning carried the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 victory over the suddenly reeling Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.
Rivera brought home Kendry Morales with his one-out shot to center field off Grant Balfour (0-1) as the Rays had brought an extra player onto the infield to prevent a groundball hit.
The Rays, who lost their third straight on the road after winning 13 of 14 to open the campaign, had fought back with three runs in the ninth off Angels closer Brian Fuentes to send it to extras.
Willy Aybar homered and Evan Longoria drove in a pair with a double to tie it.
Trevor Bell (1-0), who was called up from Triple-A earlier in the day, earned the win by retiring one batter.
Torii Hunter and Mike Napoli homered off starter Matt Garza as the Angels took a 4-0 lead in the fourth.
The Rays got one back on John Jaso’s eighth-inning single.
Tampa Bay | LA Angels | |
Matt Garza | Player | Joel Pineiro |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
7.2 | IP | 6.1 |
7 | Strikeouts | 7 |
7 | Hits | 5 |
4.70 | ERA | 0.00 |
Tampa Bay | LA Angels | |
John Jaso | Player | Howie Kendrick |
3 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 3 |
.600 | Avg | .500 |