Angels walk their way into victory against the Red Sox

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- "Reaching base by any means necessary." Was what Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said after the Angels walked 11 times on Monday night's 9-5 victory against the Boston Red Sox.

Tonight marked the highest amount of walks the Angels (38-40) have drawn this season. Their previous number was 7 against the San Diego Padres on May 12.

Tonight, the Angels were three walks away from tying a franchise record that dates back to 1997 when they walked 14 times against the Texas Rangers. They also did it in 1976 against Cleveland.

The Angels used the power of walking to pull away with a late victory tonight in the 8th inning, extending a 6-5 lead to 7, and later to 9. 

The late-game heroics were ignited from a sacrifice fly by Christian Moore, scoring LaMonte Wade Jr. The Angels then added two more after Mike Trout and Taylor Ward walked back-to-back for the third tie tonight.

"It was great. The guys were patient. I know they were talking about it before the game." Montgomery said.

Following Trout's intentional walk in the inning, Ward worked himself into the same situation, extending the lead at 7, scoring Luis Rengifo with the bases loaded. Travis d'Arnaud then scored Zach Neto and Trout on a line drive to left for tonight's final score.

Jack Kochanowicz gave up 3 runs in the first inning, but the Angels quickly lifted him by scoring 5 in the bottom half.

"It's a new ball game," Kochanowicz said. "Obviously you're not happy going down three-nothing in the first but it's definitely a new ball game after that. I grind it out for the team."

After giving up the early runs to Boston, Kochanowicz settled down and cruised for the next four innings, giving up only one more run.

Kochanowicz finished the night with only one strikeout while issuing two walks and giving up six hits.

"I told him at the end of the game, 'I said listen there's games like that where you have to figure out ways to get through innings.' And five innings tonight was enormous. Obviously he didn't feel great about it." Montgomery said.

Red Sox pitcher Walker Buehler was the polar opposite of Kochanowicz. In the first inning, he walked four batters and hit two with pitches.

From the beginning of the night, it was apparent that Buehler had command issues on the mound. He finished the first inning with 39 pitches, only 17 of which were called for strikes.

Buehler's woes began on the first pitch of the inning when Zach Neto hit a solo home run to cut the Angels' deficit by two. Neto has 12 homers this season, six of which have been leadoff home runs.

Nolan Schanuel popped out in the next at-bat, Trout and Ward earned back-to-back walks. Jo Adell came up to the plate following a flyout by d'Arnaud. Adell drove in Trout from second on a RBI single towards left field. Ward advanced to third on the play.

Buehler's self-inflicted wounds continued when he allowed four straight runners to reach base. Wade Jr. and Neto were both hit by pitches, while Rengifo and Moore both walked. Rengifo's walk tied the game at three. Moore's walk gave them the lead at 4. Neto's at bat was an insurance run, scoring Wade Jr. from third to give the Angels a 5-3 lead.

Boston could have tied it in the fifth, but squandered the opportunity after Jarren Durran was tagged out running between second and third. Just before Durran was tagged out, Abraham Toro attempted to take second base but the Angels managed to turn a double play on a headsup throw by Moore.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora attempted to challenge the call but was unable to make the challenge. He then argued it and was ejected from the game.

After Kochanowicz was replaced in the sixth inning, in came Ryan Zeferjahn.

On Zeferjahn's second pitch of the game, Trevor Story tied it at five for Boston with a solo homer to left field.

Zeferjahn then struck out the Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Marcelo Mayer to prevent Boston from taking the lead.

Things looked to have taken a turn for the worse in the seventh after Brock Burke allowed the first two runners he saw reach base. Connor Wong hit a single, then David Hamilton first reached on a bunt. On the next play, Durran decided to lay out a sacrifice bunt, and it worked. Both runners advanced to third and second, with only one out.

Montgomery wasted no time and took Burke out of the game, and called in Reid Detmers from the bullpen.

Boston countered the move by having Romy Gonzalez come in to pinch hit for Toro, but Detmers was playing chess, not checkers, and intentionally walked him to load the bases.

With the bases loaded, Detmers never flinched.

Both Anthony and Story were due up with the bases loaded. Detmers first faced Anthony and struck him out on four pitches.

"I knew he was gonna be hacking. Especially with one out, bases loaded," Detmers said. "Trying to put something in play so trying to keep it below the zone and if he does put it in play, hopefully it's a double play."

Then did the same to Story with six.

Detmers continues to dominate out of the bullpen as he has not given up a hit since June 2.

The Angels bullpen continued to be dominant in the eighth inning as Sam Bachman had a 1-2-3 shutdown inning with two strikeouts.

"He's been nasty," Detmers said of Bachman. "He's really good right now I mean elite stuff really good stuff. I'm glad he's healthy, hopefully he can keep it going."

Kenley Jansen came in at the end to close the game out, but exited early after four pitches. Jansen informed reporters that he left due to a cramp. Hector Neris came in to finish the night.

"You gotta be responsible there. It's June and you gotta listen to your trainer and listen to your coaches. And of course me even though I cramped I wanted to continue to go but I think this is smart."