ST. LOUIS -- It was Logan O'Hoppe's turn on Wednesday.
In a series where virtually the entire roster came through at one point or another, O¡¯Hoppe blasted the first pitch he saw off Sonny Gray in the seventh inning over the right-center-field wall for his second career grand slam. And while the final score eventually read 12-5 for the Cardinals, it didn¡¯t diminish what the homer -- and the timing of it -- represented.
Even in the loss, the Angels once again showed a resiliency that had carried them to wins in their previous four games.
¡°We went to the seventh with the lead, and we just didn't have enough coming out of the bullpen to shut them down,¡± manager Ron Washington said. ¡°So, you got to tip your hat to them, just like I was tipping my hat to my guys when we were down and kept coming back. They kept coming. And today we just couldn't do anything about it.¡±
O¡¯Hoppe¡¯s jolt gave the Halos a 5-3 lead. It came right after the Cardinals had just taken a 3-1 lead on Iv¨¢n Herrera¡¯s two-run homer in the sixth.
¡°The at-bat before, I was trying to cover everything and doing too much there, but I shortened my approach a little bit and put a good swing on it,¡± O¡¯Hoppe said.
O¡¯Hoppe joined Bengie Molina as the only Angels catchers with multiple career grand slams. He said the atmosphere in the dugout was extremely positive.
¡°There's no panic when we're down either,¡± O¡¯Hoppe said. ¡°If we're down late in the game, like not one guy in here thinks we don't have a shot, thinks that, you know, the next guy can't step up and do the job. And it's fun to be a part of even though today was a tough loss.¡±
Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the Cardinals showed some resiliency of their own, tying the game at 5 in the bottom of the seventh. Masyn Winn scored on a Willson Contreras double, and Lars Nootbaar came around on the same play on a Nicky Lopez throwing error.
St. Louis took advantage of a bullpen stretched thin by two straight extra-inning games to blow the game open in the eighth. Two perfectly placed bunts went for hits to set up the inning and Herrera¡¯s three-run homer capped it off.
¡°Those guys were on fumes,¡± Washington said. ¡°You know, the four games we ended up winning, it was everybody on board and it just caught up with us at the end. Because, I mean, they beat us 12-5, but it certainly wasn't that type of butt whipping until the end of the game.¡±
Herrera, who also homered in the fourth, became the first Cardinals catcher with three home runs in a single game.
Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi struggled with his control, walking five batters, but he was still able to go six innings on 104 pitches. Kikuchi allowed three runs on four hits and struck out six.
¡°Obviously control was off a little bit, but I thought I was still able to grind through, keep the team in the game, was able to go six innings,¡± Kikuchi said through an interpreter. ¡°So, obviously a couple of the home runs I gave up were not where I wanted to throw it, but I'll make the adjustment for next time.¡±
Mike Trout gave the Angels a 1-0 lead in the first with his first home run of the season. Trout totaled five RBIs in the series.
Even though the finale in St. Louis didn¡¯t go as they wanted, the Angels still return to Los Angeles with plenty of momentum from a 4-2 season-opening road trip for their home opener on Friday.
¡°We had expectations coming out of Spring Training,¡± Washington said. ¡°We played well. We played good baseball. It looked like they buried us, but nope, we had the lead in that game. ¡ We just need tomorrow off, and we certainly don't need to continue to tax our bullpen the way we have. But you know, when you're trying to be successful, you need bulldogs down there, and sometimes that's the way it goes. But what really killed us is all the extra innings on this road trip.¡±