BALTIMORE (AP) — Shohei Ohtani homered in the first inning and hit a tiebreaking infield single in the eighth, and Hunter Renfroe's terrific defensive play in the ninth helped the Los Angeles Angels hold on for a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
Mike Trout also went deep for the Angels, and Anthony Santander and Adley Rutschman homered for Baltimore. Rutschman's two-run shot in the seventh gave Baltimore a 5-4 lead, but it was short lived.
Bryan Baker (3-1) allowed a single and a walk with one out in the eighth, and then Austin Voth came on and yielded an RBI single to pinch-hitter Gio Urshela. After a strikeout, Voth hit Trout with a pitch to load the bases.
Left-hander Danny Coulombe came in to face Ohtani, who ripped a grounder to the right side. First baseman Ryan Mountcastle made a diving stop, but Ohtani easily beat Coulombe to the bag and the go-ahead run came home.
Chris Devenski (1-0) got the win despite allowing Rutschman's 424-foot homer. Matt Moore worked the eighth and Carlos Estévez pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances.
With one out in the ninth, Adam Frazier hit a line drive to right, but Renfroe played the ball beautifully off the wall and made a great throw to second to catch Frazier trying for a double. That turned out to be a huge play because pinch-hitter Cedric Mullins followed with a double.
The Angels intentionally walked Rutschman, which put the winning run on base but also allowed Estévez to face a right-handed batter. He struck Mountcastle out on three pitches to end the game.
Ohtani opened the scoring in the first with a solo homer to right-center off Baltimore starter Tyler Wells. Trout added a two-run shot in the third. It was the 10th homer of the season for each Los Angeles slugger.
The Orioles left five men on base in the first two innings, and Tyler Anderson took a shutout into the fifth before Mountcastle hit a sacrifice fly and Santander followed with a two-run homer that made it 3-all.
Zach Neto hit an RBI single in the sixth to put Los Angeles back ahead, but Rutschman answered an inning later with his seventh home run of the season.
UP NEXT
The Orioles play at Toronto on Friday night. Kyle Gibson (4-3) starts for Baltimore against Yusei Kikuchi (5-0).
Los Angeles hosts Minnesota. Reid Detmers (0-3) takes the mound for the Angels against Joe Ryan (6-1).
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Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister
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