Zach Neto’s home run leading off the bottom of the eighth inning snapped a tie and lifted the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Neto was a triple shy of the cycle, hitting a double in the first inning and a single in the fifth. The Angels also got a game-tying two-run homer by Logan O’Hoppe in the fourth inning.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for the Angels, getting Oneil Cruz on a liner to right field to end it. Jansen earned his sixth save of the season and the 453rd of his career, ranking fourth all time behind Mariano Rivera (652), Trevor Hoffman (601) and Lee Smith (478).
Angels reliever Ryan Zeferjahn (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to get the win over Pittsburgh’s Chase Shugart (1-1).
Cruz and Matthew Gorski both homered for the Pirates.
The Pirates wasted no time taking an early lead, Cruz hitting the second pitch of the game by Angels starter Tyler Anderson for a home run, his seventh of the year.
Pittsburgh added a second run in the first inning after Andrew McCutchen doubled, went to third on a single by Joey Bart and scored when Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded into a fielder’s choice.
The Pirates increased their lead to 3-0 in the second inning when Gorski, making his major league debut at age 27, homered to lead off the second inning.
Gorski was hitting .300 with an .853 OPS at Triple-A Indianapolis when he got his long-awaited call to join the major league team in Anaheim.
“I’ve been carrying a nice outfit in my travel bag for two and a half years,” Gorski told reporters before Thursday’s game. “It’s finally going to pay off for me.”
The Angels tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning with three runs off Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski. Mike Trout led off the inning with a sinking liner to right field where Bryan Reynolds attempted a diving catch.
Reynolds came up empty, the ball going to the wall and Trout reaching third with a triple. It marked the first time in the series against Pittsburgh in which the Angels leadoff hitter reached base in an inning.
Taylor Ward followed with an RBI single and O’Hoppe tied the game with a two-run homer, his sixth of the season.
