Angels sneak past Red Sox in extra inning victory

BOSTON -- With some clutch work out of the bullpen, the Los Angeles Angels squeaked out a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in ten innings on Tuesday evening at Fenway Park. The Angels are now 28-32 and 18-17 on the road this season. 

Following a scoreless first two frames, the Halos struck for three in the third off Boston starter Bryan Bello. The right-hander started the inning by hitting Jo Adell and walking Chris Taylor, putting runners on first and second. Bello would go on to last six frames, keeping the Angels from adding on any further.

Zach Neto followed by grounding an RBI single up the middle, eventually advancing to second as Taylor moved to third on a poor throw home from Ceddanne Rafaela in center field. Nolan Schanuel kept it rolling with a seeing-eye single that snuck through the left side of the infield to score both Taylor and Neto, making it 3-0.

On the mound, Yusei Kikuchi looked solid through his first five innings, allowing just one run on a third-inning double from Jarren Duran and working around seven hits. However, could not manage to record an out in the sixth, walking Trevor Story before conceding a two-run homer to Ceddanne Rafaela that knotted the score at three.

Kikuchi exited with five innings under his belt, allowing three runs and walking five across 99 pitches. The 33-year-old has struggled on the road this season, working to a 4.30 ERA across 37 2/3 innings heading into Tuesday's start. However, he has been much sharper over his last ten starts overall, now having allowed just 15 earned runs in 51 2/3 innings.

The bullpens on both sides did a very impressive job keeping runs off the board through the next few frames. Brock Burke, Connor Brogdon, Hector Neris and Kenley Jansen each tossed scoreless innings, allowing just two hits total as the Red Sox could not generate any action from innings seven to nine. Jansen, who ended up earning his first victory of the season in the process, worked around a pair of walks in the bottom of the ninth to prevent a walk-off Boston win.

Red Sox relievers Greg Weissert, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman also dealt scoreless frames behind Bello as the contest headed to extra innings. The Angels finally broke the tie in the tenth as a fielding error from Boston reliever Zack Kelly allowed Nolan Schanuel to reach first before Mike Trout walked to load the bases.

Taylor Ward grounded into a double play, but Neto came around to score as Los Angeles took a 4-3 advantage. In the bottom half of the frame, Reid Detmers earned his first major league save, striking out two of three to seal the game and give the Angels their first series victory at Fenway Park since 2022.

Detmers made history with his save, becoming just the third Angel in franchise history to throw both a no-hitter and record a save. The lefty stands alongside only Nolan Ryan and Mike Witt as the only players to accomplish such a feat.

Having picked up their first series victory since a four-game sweep of the Athletics from May 19-22, the Angels will look to complete the sweep in the finale on Wednesday morning. Right-hander José Soriano (4-5, 3.41 ERA) will make his 13th start of the season for Los Angeles against Boston right-hander Lucas Giolito (1-1, 4.78 ERA).

First pitch is scheduled for 10:35 a.m. PT.