his pitches and if they hit ’em, they hit ’em. And we’re gonna make some plays behind him.”
Barria said he doesn’t mind coming in with a runner already standing at second.
“It’s a little bit hard, but that makes it more attractive,” Barria said through an interpreter. “I think I did a pretty good job.”
Toussaint started the game well and Barria finished it well, but it got dicey because of the struggles of three of the pitchers in between.
The Angels handed a 3-0 lead to Aaron Loup, who has had trouble for most of the season. He got into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, thanks to a home-to-first double play started by Rengifo at third. In the seventh, Loup walked the leadoff hitter. Right-hander Andrew Wantz then walked two more hitters, leaving a bases-loaded mess for Jesse Chavez. Chavez gave up a three-run double to Tony Kemp, tying the game. The Angels prevented further damage because Sierra, the center fielder, and shortstop Andrew Velazquez made two strong throws to nail Kemp going to third.
Chavez worked a scoreless eighth and Ryan Tepera pitched a perfect ninth to get the game to extra innings.
Sierra yanked a single into right field to drive in a run in the 10th. Barria then gave up a two-out infield hit to Ramon Laureano to tie it. The Angels wasted two automatic runners in the 11th — Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked to lead off the inning — but then Barria worked a perfect inning to get it to the 12th.
Sierra then delivered again, this time with a double, and Barria finished it off.
“Sierra’s two at-bats in extra innings were awesome to see,” Nevin said. “The aggressiveness in the zone and letting it fly. Sometimes he can be a little passive. That’s what we want. We want him to go out there and attack the ball and it paid off today.”
Sierra is a journeyman who the Angels just brought to the big leagues a few weeks ago to help fill some of the gaps left by Mike Trout’s injury. He had hit just .189 with a .474 OPS in his 37 at-bats with the Angels before Wednesday.
Toussaint also joined the Angels recently, having been claimed on waivers from the Atlanta Braves. The right-hander is a former top prospect who has never had much success in the majors, mostly because of control problems.
It looked like he might be in trouble when he walked two in the first inning, but he escaped with a double play and didn’t walk another hitter in his 71-pitch outing.
“I felt pretty good,” Toussaint said. “Just got in the groove of the game, trying to attack the glove and make them put the ball in play.”
In between Toussaint’s last pitch and the first from Loup, the Angels broke open a scoreless game with Rengifo’s seventh homer of the season. Rengifo, who has a .955 OPS against lefties this season, crushed a three-run shot 109 mph off the bat. He also homered against a lefty on Monday, the only run of that game.
“Those were big-boy homers,” Nevin said. “He got into a couple in this series, for sure.”