Wade Meckler’s 10th-inning single lifts Angels past Twins after Walker Jenkins’ late shot

Three quick swings of the game

The shape of this one was set in the first inning, when the Angels turned a handful of early chances into three runs and then spent most of the night trying to protect them. Moises Ballesteros opened the scoring with a single to center that brought home Mike Trout. Denzer Guzman followed with a single to left that scored Meckler, and Oswald Peraza added another single, this one to right, to push Ballesteros across for a 3-0 lead.

That burst mattered because offense became scarce for a long stretch. After the first inning, the Angels did not score again until the 10th. They finished with only eight hits, struck out 14 times and hit no home runs, so those early base hits were not a prelude to a big night so much as the entire foundation of it.

Walbert Urena made that foundation hold up for seven innings. He held Minnesota scoreless on four hits, did not issue a walk and struck out nine. On the other side, Taj Bradley kept this from getting away from the Twins by settling after the rough opening. Bradley also worked seven innings and struck out nine, allowing five hits and three runs. For a game that ended with five runs after the ninth began, the middle belonged to the starters.

Minnesota’s push arrived late

The Twins spent most of the night looking like a team that had enough traffic and not enough finish. They collected 10 hits and two walks, yet left 14 runners on base and struck out 15 times. That combination explains why a team can trail 3-0 deep into the game even while putting men aboard with regularity.

The comeback finally started in the eighth, when Brooks Lee’s sacrifice fly scored Walker Jenkins. It fully arrived in the ninth. Jenkins, who was Minnesota’s most dangerous hitter all night, homered to center with Victor Caratini aboard to tie the game at 3-3. Jenkins finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, and Lee added two RBIs of his own. If the Twins had found a little more contact earlier, those two might have been framing a very different ending.

Minnesota even grabbed the lead in the 10th when Lee singled to right and scored Ben Ross. At that point, the game had turned from an Angels slow burn into a Twins rescue act. But the final turn came just as abruptly, and it exposed how little margin either bullpen had left.

Our take: an escape for the Angels, a missed opening for the Twins

The Angels should enjoy the win and still view it as a warning. Urena gave them seven scoreless innings, and the lineup was sharp exactly when it needed to be in the first. After that, though, the offense disappeared for eight straight innings, and the bullpen let a 3-0 lead become a 4-3 deficit. That is not a formula to count on, especially when the best answer at the plate came only after the game had already slipped into extra innings.

Still, the Angels deserved credit for their answer in the bottom of the 10th. Jose Siri scored the tying run on Trout’s single to left, sending Zach Neto to third. Then Meckler, who had already scored once in that opening inning, finished the night with the game-winning RBI single to right. Trout’s box score line was modest, but his run in the first and RBI in the 10th put him at the center of both scoring bursts that mattered most.

For Minnesota, this is the sort of loss that lingers because so much of the work was good enough. Bradley kept the game close after the first. Jenkins and Lee supplied the comeback. The Twins played error-free baseball. But 14 runners left on base, 15 strikeouts and a blown save opportunity are too much to overcome, and the last two pitchers managed only one out while the Angels tied and won it. In a cleanly fielded game full of strikeouts, the decisive edge was simple: Los Angeles made better use of its two brief windows, the first inning and the bottom of the 10th.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Ballesteros singled to center, Trout scored, Meckler to third.

2. 1st Inning

   Guzman singled to left, Meckler scored, Ballesteros to second.

3. 1st Inning

   Peraza singled to right, Ballesteros scored, Peraza to second, Guzman to third.

4. 8th Inning

   Lee hit sacrifice fly to left, Jenkins scored.

5. 9th Inning

   Jenkins homered to center (394 feet), Caratini scored.

6. 10th Inning

   Lee singled to right, Ross scored, Keaschall to second.

7. 10th Inning

   Trout singled to left, Siri scored, Neto to third.

8. 10th Inning

   Meckler singled to right, Neto scored, Trout to second.