Angels Fall To Orioles 7-6 In 12 Innings
BALTIMORE (AP) — Long after a potential pitching duel between Jered Weaver and Chris Tillman disintegrated, a showdown between two of the best bullpens in the American League came down to one lamentable pitch.
Manny Machado led off the 12th inning with a solo shot off Cory Rasmus, and the Los Angeles Angels' three-game winning streak ended with a 7-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.
Weaver and Tillman, two former All-Stars, left after the fifth inning with Baltimore leading 6-5.
Weaver gave up a season-high six earned runs and walked four. Tillman yielded five runs, three earned, and six hits — including three doubles and a home run.
After that, however, both bullpens were excellent.
Six Baltimore relievers combined to give up one run over seven innings. Angels' relievers allowed only one run and three hits over six innings.
"You're not going to be able to match up head-to-head with teams with good bullpens unless you are going to get the outs yourself," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "Their pen is terrific. Our pen is terrific. You're going to see games like that when you have two teams with good bullpens."
Machado hit a 1-2 breaking ball from Rasmus (2-1) into the seats in left field to end the back-and-forth duel between AL contenders.
"I didn't think it was a terrible pitch, but obviously not down enough," Rasmus said. "He's a good hitter and made me pay. That's how it goes."
Ryan Webb (3-1) worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the top of the 12th for the Orioles, who improved to 12-3 in extra innings.
"To do that, you've got to have a good effort out of your bullpen — and we did tonight," manager Buck Showalter said.
Adam Jones and Nick Markakis homered for Baltimore, playing its first home game since the All-Star break.
Josh Hamilton homered and had three RBIs for the Angels, who have dropped eight of their last 11 against the Orioles.
After Hamilton delivered a run-scoring grounder in the top of the first, the Orioles scored twice in the bottom half. Jones drove an 0-2 fastball over the left-field wall — giving him 20 home runs for a fourth straight season — and J.J. Hardy added an RBI single.
Los Anneles capitalized on a throwing error by Tillman to take a 3-2 lead in the second before Machado doubled in a run in the Orioles' half.
After Hank Conger hit a sacrifice fly for the Angels in the fourth, Weaver issued two walks in the bottom half and Markakis followed with a drive off the right-field foul pole to make it 6-4.
Hamilton homered in the fifth and tied it in the seventh with an infield hit.
WEAVER'S WOES
The Angels were 7-0 in Weaver's previous seven starts, and it took a comeback for the right-hander to stay unbeaten since June 16.
"Fastball was up for most of the time and I couldn't really figure out how to get it down," he said. "Every time I left it up they put good swings on it. Any time you get the ball up in this park it's not going to work out too well."
The last time Weaver gave up six earned runs was against the Yankees on Aug. 14, 2013.
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