Rua's 9th Inning Homer Lifts Rangers Over Angels, 2-1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Rua hit his first major league homer, connecting off Huston Street in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the playoff-bound Los Angeles Angels 2-1 Sunday for their eighth win in nine games.
Tomas Telis had a bases-loaded infield single for the big league-worst Rangers, who took two of three in majors-leading Los Angeles' final home series of the regular season.
Rua broke a tie with his one-out shot to left off Street (1-2), the Angels' normally reliable closer. It was the first homer in 83 at-bats for Rua, who made his Texas debut late last month.
The AL West champion Angels (96-60) have lost five of eight, but still lead Baltimore by 2 1-2 games for home-field advantage throughout the postseason after the Orioles' 3-2 loss to Boston.
Albert Pujols drove in the Angels' only run in the finale of a 10-game homestand during which they clinched their first playoff berth and division title since 2009.
Shawn Tolleson (3-1) got two outs in the eighth for Texas. Neftali Feliz struck out the side for his 11th save.
Texas' Nick Tepesch was sharp in his first start after earning his only victory since June, pitching seven innings of four-hit ball against the majors' most productive offense.
Tepesch hit Mike Trout in the upper arm in the first inning, hitting the likely AL MVP with a pitch for the second time this month. Texas right-hander Nick Martinez also has hit Trout twice in the clubs' last two series.
Cory Rasmus pitched into the fifth inning for the first time since the Angels decided to fill injured Garrett Richards' rotation spot with bullpen starts led off by the right-hander.
Rasmus has been impressive in his five starts under that strategy, yielding three runs and eight hits in 16 innings.
Texas loaded the bases against Fernando Salas in the sixth, and Telis' two-out grounder took a weird hop off Erick Aybar's chest to drive in Leonys Martin.
Los Angeles evened it moments later when Chris Iannetta singled and scored on a single to left by Pujols, who got his 101st RBI of the season.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: OF Alex Rios will sit out the final week of the season to rest his badly bruised thumb. He hasn't played since Sept. 4.
Angels: Josh Hamilton sat out for the 16th time in 17 games with upper-body pain.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Derek Holland (1-0, 0.99) makes his fifth start of the season against Houston's Nick Tropeano at home Monday night.
Angels: C.J. Wilson (13-9, 4.42) returns from his dominant start in the Angels' final win before clinching the AL West to face Oakland's Jeff Samardzija.
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