BALTIMORE — All Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout need is a little more help.
They got it from Hunter Renfroe during a dicey ninth inning.
Ohtani homered in the first and hit a tiebreaking infield single in the eighth, and Renfroe’s terrific throw in the ninth helped the Los Angeles Angels hold on for a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
“That throw from Renfroe was incredible,” Los Angeles manager Phil Nevin said. “That’s one of the better throws I’ve seen by a right fielder.”
Trout also went deep for the Angels, and Anthony Santander and Adley Rutschman homered for Baltimore. Rutschman’s two-run shot in the seventh gave Baltimore a 5-4 lead, but it was short lived.
Bryan Baker (3-1) allowed a single and a walk with one out in the eighth, and then Austin Voth came on and yielded an RBI single to Gio Urshela. After a strikeout, Voth hit Trout with a pitch to load the bases.
Left-hander Danny Coulombe came in to face Ohtani, who ripped a grounder to the right side. First baseman Ryan Mountcastle made a diving stop, but Ohtani easily beat Coulombe to the bag and the go-ahead run came home.
Chris Devenski (1-0) got the win despite allowing Rutschman’s 424-foot homer. Matt Moore worked the eighth and Carlos Estévez pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances.
With one out in the ninth, Adam Frazier hit a line drive to right, but Renfroe played the ball beautifully off the wall and made a great throw to second to catch Frazier trying for a double. That turned out to be a huge play because pinch-hitter Cedric Mullins followed with a double.
“Obviously it’s fun being against Frazier,” said Renfroe, who was a teammate of Frazier’s at Mississippi State. “My teammate and good buddy. He texted me as soon as I got in here, so that was a lot of fun.”
The Angels intentionally walked Rutschman, which put the winning run on base but also allowed Estévez to face a right-handed batter. He struck Mountcastle out on three pitches to end the game.
“I just liked the other matchup better,” Nevin said.
Ohtani opened the scoring in the first with a solo homer to right-center off Baltimore starter Tyler Wells. Trout added a two-run shot in the third. It was the 10th homer of the season for each Los Angeles slugger.
The Orioles left five men on base in the first two innings, and Tyler Anderson took a shutout into the fifth before Mountcastle hit a sacrifice fly and Santander followed with a two-run homer that made it 3-all.
Zach Neto hit an RBI single in the sixth to put Los Angeles back ahead, but Rutschman answered an inning later with his seventh home run of the season.
RARITY
The Orioles fell to 24-3 when leading after seven innings. They didn’t use standout reliever Yennier Cano, who pitched the previous two days, and they couldn’t hold the lead until the ninth for closer Félix Bautista.
“They don’t lose too many games they’re ahead in late over here,” Nevin said. “I know we didn’t get Cano or Bautista but we got to them before we could get to Bautista.”
TRADE
The Orioles acquired shortstop Robbie Glendinning from the Kansas City Royals for cash. They are assigning him to Triple-A Norfolk.
UP NEXT
The Orioles play at Toronto on Friday night. Kyle Gibson (4-3) starts for Baltimore against Yusei Kikuchi (5-0).
Los Angeles hosts Minnesota. Reid Detmers (0-3) takes the mound for the Angels against Joe Ryan (6-1).
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