Angels stave off Cardinals in 9th, avoid series sweep

[June 24, 2019]    Tommy La Stella and David Fletcher each had two hits and two RBIs and the visiting Los Angeles Angels held on for a 6-4 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night to avoid getting swept in the three-game series.

Albert Pujols started his third straight game at first base and went 2-for-5 for the Angels, who ended a three-game losing streak.

Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (39) pitches during the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Pujols played 11 seasons in St. Louis and won two World Series titles and three National League Most Valuable Player awards for the Cardinals before signing with the Angels following the 2011 season.

Pujols went 4-for-11 with a home run in the series while receiving standing ovations throughout.

Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun and Dustin Garneau also had two hits each for the Angels, who collected 15 hits, including 14 singles.

Tyler Skaggs (7-6) threw five shutout innings for Los Angeles, allowing four hits and striking out three. He did not walk a batter for the second straight outing.

Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas (5-8) allowed one run and seven hits in five innings.

St. Louis scored four runs with two outs in the ninth. Jose Martinez homered to end the shutout. Kolten Wong followed with a two-run double and Dexter Fowler scored Wong with a pinch-hit broken-bat single to make it 6-4. Hansel Robles got Paul DeJong to ground into a force out with the tying runs aboard to end the game.

Wong and Yadier Molina had two hits each for St. Louis.

Mikolas paid a price for walking Skaggs with two outs in the second inning to put runners on first and second. La Stella came up and lined a single up the middle, scoring Garneau for a 1-0 lead.

John Brebbia replaced Mikolas to start the sixth and walked the first two batters. Shohei Ohtani pinch-hit for Skaggs and singled to load the bases with one out. La Stella then singled to center to make it 2-0.

The Angels tacked on four more runs in the ninth, highlighted by Fletcher's two-run single that stretched the lead to 4-0.

Justin Anderson replaced Skaggs and worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Cam Bedrosian did the same in the seventh and Ty Buttrey stranded pinch-hitter Tommy Edman at third after he tripled with one out in the eighth.

--Field Level Media

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