Trout's double off Clase sparks Halos in 9th

CLEVELAND -- It appeared the Angels were heading toward one of their most frustrating losses of the season, and things looked especially bleak with the Guardians turning to All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth after lefty Matt Moore gave up a go-ahead solo homer to Josh Naylor in the eighth.

But the Halos shook off their struggles with runners in scoring position and made an unlikely comeback keyed by a leadoff double from Mike Trout and a go-ahead sacrifice fly from Brandon Drury in a 5-4 series-opening win.

It snapped the Angels’ 10-game losing streak in Cleveland, as Progressive Field has been a house of horrors for them dating to 2015, having lost 20 of their previous 21 there entering the series.

“That’s an all-around good win for the room,” manager Phil Nevin said. “We didn’t make it easy on ourselves. We left a lot of them out there. To be able to get a couple off Clase, it’s tough. Mike’s at-bat to spark us there in the ninth. I know he's not feeling quite himself right now, but having an at-bat like that was huge.”

The Angels entered the ninth having stranded 10 baserunners. They couldn’t score in the fifth despite loading the bases with none out and again in the seventh despite Trout and Shohei Ohtani leading off the inning with walks.

And in the eighth, they saw Matt Thaiss get thrown out easily at home as he attempted to score from first base on a double off the left-field wall from Zach Neto.

The Angels, however, made up for it with their two-run rally in the ninth against Clase, who entered with a 1.86 ERA and an American League-leading 13 saves.

Trout sparked the rally with his leadoff double on a 100 mph cutter, which was a good sign as he had been scuffling recently at the plate. Trout was hitting just .174 over his previous 23 at-bats, but he came through when it mattered most.

“I’ve had a lot of opportunities the last week or so and I haven’t been myself out there,” Trout said. “I’ve just been trying to do too much. I can’t really pinpoint it. But that’s baseball. I'm a competitor and trying to compete. I think it’s just about slowing the game down.”

Ohtani followed with a strikeout, but Anthony Rendon singled to right on a 91 mph slider to get Trout to third base with one out. It was the third hit of the game for Rendon, who is batting .438 in nine games in May.

It brought up Hunter Renfroe, who worked a lengthy at-bat against Clase. And when Renfroe fouled back a couple pitches with the count at 2-2, Nevin decided to bring in pinch-runner Brett Phillips at first base to try to steal and avoid a potential double play.

Renfroe, who had previously grounded into an MLB-leading nine double plays, hit a hard grounder to second with Phillips running on the pitch.

Second baseman Andrés Giménez threw home to try to get Trout, but the throw got away from catcher Cam Gallagher, allowing Trout to score the tying run. It also allowed Phillips to reach third. Giménez was charged with a throwing error as a result and it proved costly with Phillips scoring on a go-ahead sacrifice fly from Drury.

Nevin explained he originally wasn’t going to lift Rendon for Phillips, but Renfroe fouling off pitches made him change his mind.

“I was going to wait until Tony got to second, because I didn’t want to lose his defense. But after Renfroe kept fouling them off, I’d thought he’d hit one in play,” Nevin said. “Just was hoping he didn’t line it to anybody.

“But I was gonna send Phillips every pitch with the 2-2 count. Just trying to make something happen.”

The decision worked out for Nevin, just like an unorthodox move in the bottom of the ninth with the Angels intentionally walking Naylor with first and third with two outs. It loaded the bases and put the potential go-ahead run at second for the Guardians, but closer Carlos Estévez struck out Will Brennan to end it.

“Naylor is an adrenaline junkie,” Nevin said. “I’ve seen him in huge moments and he can hit anybody’s fastball. That’s what I told Este. I said he could get [Naylor] out, but the guy on deck [Brennan], I feel really good about it. And it worked out.”