ANAHEIM, Calif. — In a span of three minutes, the Angels escaped the jaws of embarrassing history and miraculously won in one of the wildest endings of the season.
The Angels were only three outs away from being no-hit for the first time since 1999 to extend their losing streak to seven games in the midst of a skid where they were about to lose their 22nd of their last 27 games.
But second baseman Adam Frazier led off the inning with a single to end the no-hit bid, and three pitches later, shortstop Zach Neto drilled a ball beyond the wall in dead center field to end it with a walk-off two-run home run for the 2-1 win over the Athletics on Monday night.
“That was a heavy one,” Neto said. “Six-game losing streak, but that one was big for us. Not only me, but for the team. Just to be able to get it off our shoulders and go to sleep tonight good, and be able to enjoy it and come in tomorrow with a better attitude.”
For the first eight innings of the game, Athletics right-hander J.T. Ginn was pitching the game of his life.
A walk by third baseman Yoàn Moncada in the fifth inning and a hit by pitch by Neto in the sixth were the only baserunners the Angels were able to muster, while striking out 10 times in the process.
“He had good stuff all game and he was really pitching, sinker, cutter, changeup, sweeper,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said of Ginn. “Kept us off balance. He pitched a heck of a game.”
Even with the pressure of a possible no-hitter mounting, the Angels never wavered, mentally.
“The deeper we got, the more energy I felt like we had,” Suzuki said. “I honestly, truly believe that's what pulled us through, the energy. Even going into the last inning, guys are up, they're ready to rock, they believed we were going to win that game.”
Neto said it was the most electric ninth-inning speech the team has ever had in his career. There wasn’t just a player doing the talking, but rather a whole dugout vocalizing their belief in still winning this game.
“It doesn't matter what the score is,” Neto said. “It doesn't matter if we have zero hits or ten hits on the board. We all believe in each other and that's what it's all about.”
With a 0-2 count to lead off the ninth inning, Frazier flicked a slider below the strike zone into center field to save the Angels from being on the wrong side of history. Then, with a 2-0 count, Neto got a sinker over the middle of the plate that he drove out of the yard to snap the six-game losing streak.
“I feel like my swing is starting to come around a little bit,” Neto said. “Today was a really good feeling getting a nice one. It was a tough pitcher. Ginn had his stuff working today, and he just so happened to leave one up and out over, and I took advantage of it. This game is very hard, and you only get one pitch, maybe in an AB to do damage, and I got my pitch and I did damage.”
This season hasn’t gone Neto’s way. In a year that was supposed to be another step in his development following back-to-back 20-homer and 20-stolen base seasons, Neto is only hitting .225 and led the American League in strikeouts heading into Monday.
Things are starting to stabilize for him, though, as he was hitting .268 with an .855 OPS in his last 11 games heading into Monday.
“Just trying to use the whole field,” Neto said. “Just shifting my eyes from the left field bullpen towards the middle of the field. And let my mistakes, if I'm early, go to the pullside. If I'm late, go to the backside. So just be able to keep my direction that way. I feel like that's the biggest thing for me.”
The Athletics themselves had a tough time scoring in this one as well, in large part because of right-hander Walbert Ureña.
The 22-year-old tossed the best start in his young career, pitching six shutout innings while only allowing four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Ureña ran into some jams in the early innings by running some deep counts and a few defensive miscues in the infield, but he never let things snowball and kept the Athletics’ bats at bay.
He now has a 2.70 ERA this year.
“He's been awesome,” Neto said. “Like a seasoned vet walking in and out of here, nothing phases him and as poised as it comes. He's a young leader in this clubhouse, for the Latin guys, for us. Even when I was going through my slump, he was the first person tapping on my shoulder, saying that I got to lead this group, and we go when I go. A young guy like that doesn't really do that often. To see him do it just shows who he is as a person.”
The Angels are now 17-31 and still have the worst record in baseball, but that’s not stopping them from being down on themselves.
“We still trust each other,” Neto said. “That's something that we've talked about since day one in spring training. There's nobody here that does not believe, and it's just a matter of us showing it. And today we showed it.”