Pujols' blast picks up Bedrosian, Angels' win

ANAHEIM >> The Angels seemed determined to win this game, no matter how hard they also seemed to be trying to lose it.

Throughout the late innings, one Angel after another did something wrong, each followed by a teammate who bailed him out.

The conga line of goats and heroes ended with Albert Pujols, who hit a walk-off two-run homer to give the Angels’ an 8-6 victory over the Oakland A’s on Wednesday night.

It may be too late to save the Angels season, but the players clearly are still trying to make the best of what’s left.

“That’s something we weren’t doing early,” Pujols said. “We were losing tough series, but it seems like after the break it’s different guys every night getting big hits. That’s what we need to continue to do the rest of the year and see where we’re at.”

Pujols’ big hit – his 12th career walk-off homer – was the capper on a night in which the Angels answered in the bottom of the inning in four of the five innings the A’s scored.

More important, though, was the way they picked up for each other on the mound and in the field, with a series of downs and ups starting in the eighth inning.

“You want to do well for yourself,” Mike Morin said, “but when you are able to do that for someone else and for the team, it’s a lot more gratifying, absolutely.”

Morin ended up as the night’s penultimate hero, setting up Pujols by escaping a bases-loaded jam with one pitch to Danny Valencia in the top of the ninth. His changeup – the first pitch he had thrown after a five-week demotion to Triple-A – induced a comebacker and a double play.

Morin had come in to bail out Cam Bedrosian, the Angels new closer who had been riding a string of 25 straight scoreless innings, full of strikeouts. He didn’t have it on this night, and did not retire any of the five batters he faced, walking three of them.

The only out he got was the result of a heads-up play by Cliff Pennington, who was alert enough to get the ball behind Max Muncy when he slipped running the bases after Stephen Vogt’s game-tying single.

Pennington and reliever J.C. Rodriguez had bailed out Feando Salas and Yunel Escobar an inning earlier.

Salas was getting a shot in the eighth in the Angels remodled bullpen, with Huston Street on the DL and Joe Smith traded. Salas loaded the bases on two walks and a hit, and then Ramirez walked in a run.

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Ryon Healey then hit a grounder to Escobar, who double-clutched and made a bad throw to Pennington. Pennington still picked it and fired a strike to first, for a double play to preserve a one-run lead.

It was that kind of night, with nothing going quite to plan, but it all ending up just as they hoped, thanks to Pujols.

“Having Albert do that is a huge hit for the team,” Bedorsian said. “That’s awesome. That’s why we have guys like that, who can come in and help you out.”

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