If it can’t get any worse, it really can’t get any better for the Los Angeles Angels.

The Angels dropped a 6-9 decision to the Tampa Bay Rays of the Major League Baseball 2023 at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California, on April 19. The loss dropped the team to 60 wins and 63 losses on the season. They are 7.5 games out of the third wild-card spot, the Seattle Mariners (67-55). In effect, they are one step away from fall baseball.

The Angels jumped out to an early lead on Shohei Ohtani’s walk-off home run. With the game tied 1-1, Ohtani took one swing in his second at-bat to drive in four runs.

With two outs in the bottom of the inning, he took a high cutter from starter Erasmo Ramirez and launched a grand slam (his 43rd of the season) over the right field fence. The ball traveled 389 feet (118.5 meters) at a speed of 102.1 miles per hour (164.3 kilometers per hour) with a launch angle of 28 degrees.

Ohtani hit his 43rd home run of the season with a grand slam. It tied him with Matt Olson (Atlanta) for the major league lead in home runs.토스카지노

The Angels jumped out to a 5-1 lead on Ohtani’s grand slam, but back-to-back errors in the middle innings cut the lead to 5-6. In the bottom of the seventh, Brandon Drury hit an RBI double with two outs to tie the game at 6-6.

With the game tied, the Angels continued to play with a sense of urgency, and in the top of the ninth, leadoff hitters Yandy Diaz and Randy Arosarena walked to put runners on first and third with no outs. A run here would have put the game out of reach heading into the bottom of the ninth. A series of lucky breaks saved the day.

Harold Ramirez hit a line drive in front of the shortstop, and the shortstop, second baseman, and first baseman made the catch to get two quick outs. With Diaz at third, first baseman Nolan Chanuel snared Diaz with a pinpoint throw to complete the triple play, the Angels’ first triple play since 1997.

The Angels completed a triple play with runners on first and second in the top of the ninth.

The Angels seemed to capitalize on the momentum, but that was it. In the top of the 10th, the Angels got RBI singles from Reilly, Lowe, and Pinto with runners on first and third to make it 6-9. Then they went scoreless in the bottom of the 10th. Despite a walk-off home run and a triple play, they lost the game.

After the game, there were many boos for the Angels. “Even Ohtani’s grand slam and triple play couldn’t save the Angels from defeat,” said the LA Times, a local publication in Los Angeles.

“The Angels hit their first grand slam since 1857 and turned a triple play, but they’re still a losing team,” wrote Jared Carabis of Barstool Sports on social media. It was a great loss, like being blind before the invention of the light bulb,” he wrote.

The Angels fell to 60-63 on the season with the ignominious loss. They are “7.5” games out of the third wild-card spot, the Seattle Mariners (67-55). In effect, they are one step further away from fall baseball.