Very quickly into Thursday’s afternoon matchup against the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Angels looked like a team ready to move on to their next stop in the road trip. Joe Maddon’s Angels had already locked up the series win and trailed 7-2 by the end of the second inning.
By the end of the fifth inning, it was 10-2. At that point, there would have been plenty of good reasons to just mail it in and get on the flight to Cleveland. Instead, Brandon Marsh, Jo Adell, and the Angels would not go away.
In the sixth inning, the Angels loaded the bases. A Phil Gosselin infield single, and walks to Justin Upton and Jared Walsh cut the deficit to 10-5. Then, Adell beat out a ground ball that would have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, Marsh got to the plate with runners in the corners and a score of 10-6.
There, Marsh hit his second triple of the game to score both runs and make it 10-8. Maddon loved what he saw out of Marsh — who is batting .419 over the Angels last eight games — and Adell on Thursday, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“[Marsh is] getting better,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “He’s starting to square up the pitches that he likes for the most part. I think he’s getting better at not chasing.”
“Adell, beating out that double play, I loved that,” Maddon said. “The whole group. Everybody up and down the lineup did good things today.”
The Angels work did not end there, obviously. Walsh’s RBI single in the seventh made it 10-9. In the eighth, Marsh drew a 10-pitch walk and Stassi roped a two-run home run to left field to give the Angels an 11-10 lead.
Shohei Ohtani also scored via a sac fly, making it 12-10. A Gosselin solo home run iced things in the ninth, as the Angels won 13-10 to complete the sweep.
Marsh — beyond having an incredible game — was just excited to be a part of the historic comeback, something he’s never done during his time as a baseball player.
“It was awesome,” Marsh said. “I don’t think I’ve ever played in any game of baseball and come back from eight runs, especially at a level like this. So it was very special. A moment to remember forever.”
The playoffs remain out of the cards for the Angels, but moments like Thursday can provide immensely important building blocks for a contending team in 2022.
Having the willingness to go out to the plate and fight for a win after being down 10-2 in Game 4 of a 10-game road trip speaks to the character of the Angels clubhouse. That’s something that will need to carry over to next season.
Marsh showing continued progress
Marsh has now been within one foot of his first Major League home run twice in the past week. While it might be disappointing to some, Marsh is just happy to be seeing results at the plate.
The Angels young outfielder had been struggling to get anything going during his first weeks at the MLB level, and now appears to be assimilating well. The triples — and almost home runs — are just proof of a player growing into a professional.