ST. LOUIS -- The moment continues to not be too big for Kyren Paris.
The 23-year-old utility player came through for the second straight game, helping the Angels rally to beat the Cardinals, 5-4, in 10 innings on Monday night at Busch Stadium.
¡°Just one goal as a team on our mind, and that's winning,¡± Paris said. ¡°So when I come up in those situations, I feel like I've prepared myself, and [I] just want to do it for the team and just rise to the occasion.¡±
One day after hitting the go-ahead homer in Los Angeles' 3-2 win over the White Sox, Paris¡¯ RBI triple in the seventh inning tied the game at 3. He also used his speed to help the Angels score their first run on Taylor Ward¡¯s sac fly in the third.
¡°Maturity, growing, don't seem like any moment is too big for him right now,¡± Angels manager Ron Washington said. ¡°Very happy for him, because he works his butt off.¡±
Paris reached three times and scored twice. His average is up to .375.
¡°Definitely just a lot of grit in the room,¡± Paris said. ¡°Everyone's on the same page and we want to win. We have fight. And if someone doesn't get the job done, the next guy's picking them up. And that's what it's all about.¡±
Luis Rengifo beat Brendan Donovan¡¯s throw at the plate to break a 3-3 tie in the 10th, then Mike Trout added insurance with a sacrifice fly as the Angels won their third straight game and handed St. Louis its first loss of the season.
Brock Burke (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the decision and Ryan Johnson picked up the save. Five relievers combined for five innings of shutdown relief on a night when Ben Joyce and Kenley Jansen weren¡¯t available. The only run allowed by the Halos' bullpen was unearned from the automatic runner on the 10th.
¡°We needed everyone tonight, and we got it done,¡± Washington said. ¡°All the guys we needed came in and did their job. We've just got to keep grinding.¡±
The Cardinals loaded up their lineup with right-handed bats against Angels starter Tyler Anderson, but it was the lefties that gave the veteran southpaw trouble the first time through.
Lars Nootbaar hit his sixth career leadoff home run and Donovan ambushed the first pitch he saw in the second to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. It was Donovan¡¯s first career homer off a left-handed pitcher.
¡°It was just more of a grind, kind of battle outing,¡± Anderson said.
Anderson was able to limit the damage, allowing three runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked two.
¡°I thought Tyler was good,¡± Washington said. ¡°I really do. After they got those two runs off of him, he settled in. He started making his pitches.¡±
Anderson¡¯s night ended after allowing a two-out RBI single to Nolan Arenado that made it 3-1 Cardinals in the fifth, but Arenado was thrown out at second to end the frame on a perfectly executed 8-3-5-4 putout by Los Angeles.
Yo¨¢n Moncada also turned in a web gem at third base in the eighth, snagging a hard-hit grounder that left Masyn Winn¡¯s bat at 107.9 mph and turning it into an inning-ending force out.
¡°That saved the game right there,¡± Washington said.
The Angels scratched across a run in the third, capitalizing on a Paris leadoff walk. Paris stole second and scored on a Taylor Ward sacrifice fly. A Trout sacrifice fly scored Ward for the Angels¡¯ second run in the sixth.
¡°We did what the game asked us to do tonight, and that's what it took,¡± Washington said. ¡°Three sac flies, and the [triple] that we got from Kyren, that's what it took.¡±
Los Angeles scored five runs on just four hits. Nolan Schanuel had two of those hits, and his first-inning single left his bat at 109.8 mph, the hardest-hit ball of his career.
The three sacrifice flies are the most for the team in a single game since Sept. 17, 2020, against Arizona.
¡°Just playing as a team,¡± Trout said. ¡°Just trying to do your job, not try to do too much, having good at-bats, passing the baton, in the bullpen, putting up zeros. It's early, but it's fun to be a part of this.¡±