Angels hit pair of homers in 9th to rally past Cardinals

*Photo from Sportsnaut*

   Here comes another rally for a win. Jake Lamb homered, Mike Trout hit a homer of his own, and the Los Angeles Angels rallied to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Wednesday night in St. Louis.

   The Angels improved to 17-14 with the win, having won 3 straight games and 7 out of 10. 6 different players drove in a run for the Angels, including a pinch hit appearance from Lamb. The Angels also hit 3 home runs in the win.

   Stop me if you've heard this before, but Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani made history once again. He became the second player in baseball history with 100 home runs and 500 strikeouts on the mound, joining only Babe Ruth. He's also the 10th Japanese player with at least 500 strikeouts.

   Nolan Gorman gave the Cardinals an early lead, making it 1-0 on a first inning solo home run to center field. One inning later, Brandon Drury tied the score 1-1 for the Angels with a solo shot of his own. In the 3rd inning, RBI singles from Ohtani and Hunter Renfroe put the Angels ahead 3-1. The Cardinals then took a 4-3 lead in the 4th with an RBI double from Willson Contreras and a two run home run from Dylan Carlson.

   Scoring didn't pick up again until the Angels rallied in the 9th inning. Lamb pinch hit for catcher Chad Wallach and hit a solo home run to tie the game 4-4. Mike Trout then put the Angels ahead 5-4 with another solo homer. Anthony Rendon then put the icing on the cake with an RBI single to score Ohtani and make it a 6-4 game.

   It was Ohtani who got the start for the Angels, racking up 13 strikeouts over 5 innings to reach the 500 strikeout mark. He allowed 4 runs over those 5 innings. Chase Silseth pitched the next two innings before Ryan Tepera pitched the 8th and Carlos Estevez got the save in the 9th inning.

   Getting the start for the Cardinals was Miles Mikolas, who allowed 3 runs on 8 hits in 5 2/3 innings pitched, striking out 5 hitters. Jordan Hicks worked the next inning before Ryan Helsley pitched 1 1/3 innings. Giovanny Gallegos got the loss and the blown save, allowing 3 runs in the 9th inning.

   Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said that "I’d be lying if I say this is not frustrating, but we’ve been tested quite a bit, and this fits right in. I don’t worry about our team’s ability to bounce back from it. We’ve been tested quite a bit. This fits right into that bucket of being tested even more and now we’ll find out what we’re made of."

   Up next, the series between the two concludes on Thursday afternoon. Griffin Canning gets the start for the Angels while Jack Flaherty goes for the Cardinals.