Moniak’s walk-off home run launches Angels past Mariners

ANAHEIM, Calif. — After trailing for most of the evening, Mickey Moniak stepped up and sealed the Angels’ comeback with his first career walk-off home run.

Moniak’s second homer of the night made the difference during the Angels’ 5-4 victory over the Mariners.

“Mickey came and tied the game and he came up in the ninth inning and won the game. But, all of that wouldn’t have happened if the pitching didn’t hold us there.

Tyler Anderson did not have his best night on the mound as he finished with 4 earned runs on six hits in 4.0 innings of work.

“[Anderson] didn’t have his best stuff and then the bullpen came in and gave us a chance,” Washington said.

Justin Turner hit the first of his pair of home runs off Anderson to make it 1-0 in the 2nd.

Jo Adell evened it up with a solo home run of his own in the 3rd.

Justin Turner hit another solo HR off Anderson before Julio Rodríguez doubled the lead with a two-run single to make it 4-2 in the 4th.

After committing a fielding error, Zach Neto was replaced by Jack López in the sixth inning. 

“He wasn’t into it tonight, so I didn’t want him to be out there and be more frustrated, so I made a change.”

Neto is ready to move on and assured there aren’t any issues between he and his manager.

”Wash and I have a really good relationship. He thought it was best to take me out in that moment and I respect it,” Neto said.

Washington went on to defend his decision and said he was teaching Neto a lesson.

”I wasn’t trying to send a lesson to hurt his feelings, but he wasn’t into it. So since he wasn’t into it, I removed him from the game.”

When it was the Angels turn to bat in the sixth, Adell hit his second solo home run Of the night to make it 4-2 in the 6th.

Moniak evened it up for the Halos with a 2-run home run in the 7th. The former first overall pick has had a homer in three of the last four games.

“Right now, he is locked in. When they make a mistake, anywhere on the middle of the plate toward him, he’s getting a good swing off… The guy he just hit the home run off [Andres Munoz] is not easy, he’s one of the toughest pitchers in the game of baseball,” Washington said.

Moniak has noticed the improvement in his game as well.

“I think progressively throughout the year I’ve felt better everyday,” Moniak said.

In the 8th, with Taylor Ward on third, the Angels attempted a squeeze play, to no avail. 

Jack López missed the bunt, Ward was called out at home and Lopez, who barely made it out of the batter’s circle, was called out. The Halos went had a runner on third with no outs and one play later, they had no runners on with two outs before Nolan Schanuel lined out to end the frame.

As the calendar flips to September and the Angels at the bottom of the AL West, Moniak looks to finish the season on a high note.

”Big win for the boys, we’ve been grinding a little bit as of late but we’ve got a month left. We’re going to do our best to lock it in and learn a lot about outselves in these next four weeks.”