Christian Moore’s 11th-inning infield single completes Angels’ 6-5 comeback over Twins

Minnesota built the lead, but never quite shut the door

The Twins opened the scoring in the third and, for a while, looked like the club setting the terms. Luke Keaschall doubled to left to bring home Walker Jenkins for the first run, then Austin Martin grounded out to shortstop and Keaschall scored for a 2-0 edge. An inning later Victor Caratini added another RBI single, this one to left to score Brooks Lee, and Minnesota had a 3-0 cushion before the Angels had truly settled in.

That advantage survived because Joe Ryan handled the first five innings well enough to absorb traffic. The Angels collected seven hits against him, but only Jose Siri’s two-run homer in the fourth did real damage. Siri drove that ball 376 feet to right-center and scored Denzer Guzman with him, trimming the deficit to 3-2. Minnesota answered immediately in the fifth when Ryan Kreidler homered to left, a 383-foot shot that restored a two-run margin at 4-2.

There was substance in the Twins lineup beyond the scoring plays. Josh Bell had two hits, Royce Lewis had two, Caratini finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs, and Jenkins scored once while going 2-for-4. But the fuller stat line also explains why the lead kept feeling vulnerable. Minnesota managed 11 hits, yet drew only two walks and struck out 12 times. In a game that stretched to 11 innings, that left too many chances unfinished and too much room for the Angels to keep hanging around.

The Angels’ comeback arrived in layers

The first layer was simply refusing to let the eighth inning pass quietly. Minnesota had just moved ahead 5-2 on Caratini’s single to right, scoring Ben Ross and sending Lewis to third, a useful answer that could have become the game’s separator. Instead, the Angels turned the inning back on the Twins. Adam Frazier lined a double to right, Guzman scored, Josh Lowe scored, and a three-run gap was suddenly down to one.

The second layer came in the ninth, and it came from Vaughn Grissom. His solo homer to center, measured at 400 feet, tied the game 5-5 and erased Minnesota’s last lead. It was Grissom’s only hit of the night, but it was the biggest swing before extra innings, and it kept a long evening from tilting entirely toward the Twins bullpen. Between Siri’s two-run homer, Frazier’s two-run double and Grissom’s equalizer, the Angels found three separate moments to rewrite the scoreboard.

The final layer was less dramatic in shape and no less decisive in result. In the 11th, Christian Moore reached on an infield single to the pitcher, Zach Neto scored, Grissom moved to second and Mike Trout advanced to third. That was the game. Trout’s line — two hits and two walks — shows how often he helped create traffic. Guzman scored twice. Moore had just one official at-bat, but it delivered the winning RBI, the last push in a comeback that kept changing hands without ever feeling secure.

Our take: free bases and late relief tilted the night

Our take: this was a comeback built less on one explosive inning than on accumulation. The Angels matched Minnesota with 11 hits, but they created more opportunities around those hits: six walks, three hit batters and three stolen bases. They also saw 193 pitches across 51 plate appearances. Even with 12 strikeouts and two ground-ball double plays, that volume of baserunners gave them repeated chances to recover from earlier deficits.

The other important difference was what happened after the starters exited. Reid Detmers gave up four runs in five innings, so this was not a clean night for Los Angeles from the mound. But the Angels’ bullpen covered the final six innings and allowed only one run while striking out seven. Minnesota’s relief group had good early frames from Andrew Morris and Jeff Hoffman, yet from the eighth inning on it could not hold the line. The Twins finished with six walks and three hit batters allowed as a staff, and that is a difficult number to survive in a one-run extra-inning loss.

If Minnesota is looking for the clearest place to improve, it starts with limiting those free trips to first after building a lead. If the Angels are looking for theirs, it is converting pressure sooner; 11 hits, six walks and three hit batters usually should produce more than a late scramble for six runs in 11 innings. Still, the result says something useful about Los Angeles. The Angels did not play a flawless game, but they kept enough innings alive to give themselves the final swing, and that was enough to send the Twins home with a 6-5 loss.

Scoring moments

1. 3rd Inning

   Keaschall doubled to left, Jenkins scored.

2. 3rd Inning

   Martin grounded out to shortstop, Keaschall scored.

3. 4th Inning

   Caratini singled to left, Lee scored.

4. 4th Inning

   Siri homered to right center (376 feet), Guzman scored.

5. 5th Inning

   Kreidler homered to left (383 feet).

6. 8th Inning

   Caratini singled to right, Ross scored, Lewis to third.

7. 8th Inning

   Frazier doubled to right, Guzman scored and Lowe scored.

8. 9th Inning

   Grissom homered to center (400 feet).

9. 11th Inning

   Moore reached on infield single to pitcher, Neto scored, Grissom to second, Trout to third.