ANAHEIM, Calif. — Exactly one year ago today, Christian Moore was in Omaha celebrating his national title with the Tennessee Volunteers. One year later, Moore showed the Angels what kind of player they selected eighth overall by delivering two dramatic home runs, including his walk-off homer to seal the deal in extra innings.
“We talked about big moments, we talked about (Moore) in those moments before he got here, and those were two really special at-bats, and to do that in that situation was really, really fun,” bench coach Ray Montgomery said.
Heading into the eighth inning, things were looking bleak for the Angels. To that point, they were being shut out and only saw a runner reach scoring position twice.
Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet proved why he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball this year by throwing seven shutout innings while striking out 10. In the process, lowering his ERA to 2.06 and extending his major league-leading strikeout total to 135.
Greg Weissert relieved Crochet with a 1-0 lead, which was a lead that wouldn’t last long. Weissert tried to elevate a fastball but left it in the zone and Moore turned on it and hit a 108.4 mile per hour rocket into the seats in left field.
The game was tied heading into the ninth, and both teams failed to score to send the game into extra innings.
Marcelo Mayer led off the 10th inning and singled up the middle on the first pitch he saw, scoring Ceddanne Rafaela from second to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Reid Detmers was on the mound for the Angels and got out of the 10th with just the one run given up.
That set the stage for more Moore heroics.
Moore got a slider over the middle of the plate in the lower third of the zone and drove it the other way. Rafaela raced to the wall in right center to try and rob it, but the 107.7 miles per hour liner was faster.
The ball clanked off the electronic screen just barely above the yellow line. Moore didn’t know if it was a home run or not, so he put his head down and flew into third base. After Moore slid head first into third, he looked to the third base umpire and was shocked to see the umpire telling him that it was a homer.
“I didn't believe it,” Moore said. “I was kind of scared to get off the base.”
The moment Christian Moore realized he ended the game 🤣 pic.twitter.com/9yCckjURdM
— MLB (@MLB) June 25, 2025
Moore got up and made it to home plate, where he was mobbed by his teammates to officially put a stamp on the Angels' 3-2 win.
The two-homer night came just 24 hours after Moore impressed with great defense and tough at-bats. Moore had a good process the night before and got rewarded with results tonight.
The process is something that Moore knows isn’t going to come easily.
“If you look at my numbers before today, it wasn't too good,” Moore said. “I think that's just part of being young and just trying to figure it out in this league.”
Before his 2-for-4 night, Moore was hitting just .156 with a .513 OPS.
Those aren’t the numbers that the Angels expect from their top prospect’s first taste of the big leagues, but the big leagues is a tough adjustment to say the least. And Moore knows the steps he needs to take to start to settle in.
“Just understanding what they're trying to do to me,” Moore said. “Like I said, I'm young. They're throwing a lot of different things at me. But just trying to slow it down and just get pitches in the middle of the plate. When I get those, I can do a lot of damage. So I'm just trying to have a little bit of tunnel vision over the middle of the plate.”