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On Monday night, just a few inches separated win from loss.
In the third inning, the Toronto Blue Jays lined three balls barely beyond the reach of all three Angels outfielders, scoring the four runs required to win the first game of the three-game series at Angel Stadium, 4-2.
Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis
The rest was taken care of by Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis, who gave the Angels only one run and one hit in seven innings. In his sixth major-league start, Francis (5-3) did not walk a batter while striking out eight.
Two of Toronto’s five rookies, second baseman Will Wagner and shortstop Leo Jimenez, were the game’s offensive stars.
Son of seven-time All-Star closer Billy Wagner, Wagner doubled on his big league debut and went on to go 3 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI, making him the fourth player in team history to have at least three hits in his debut.
For the Blue Jays (55-64), Jimenez’s first major-league home run snapped a two-game losing streak.
In his sixth major-league start, Angels starter Davis Daniel (1-4) did not fare much better, giving up four runs and eight hits in five innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out five batters.
The Angels (52-67) scored their two runs with home runs from Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell. The team was coming off a 3-3 road trip that included two extra-inning losses.
After the first two innings, the Blue Jays were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. blasted a one-out line drive that just missed left fielder Taylor Ward’s head for a double.
Adell rushed for the line, but Spencer Horwitz hammered a line drive that landed just beyond his reach. Guerrero scored a ground-rule double after the ball rebounded over the fence, giving the team a 1-0 lead.
Wagner recorded his first major-league RBI and gave his team a 2-0 lead after recording a strikeout. He then rolled a two-strike changeup up the middle.
On July 29, the Houston Astros traded veteran left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to the Oakland Athletics for Wagner, right-hander Jake Bloss, and outfielder Joey Loperfido.
Jimenez extended the lead to 4-0 after Wagner’s RBI single with a 0-and-2 pitch that just missed Moniak’s glove in center as he jumped against the wall.
Moniak tossed his glove into the air, almost clearing the fence, since he was so irate that he failed to land with the ball.
In the first three innings, the Angels recorded first-pitch outs, and Francis retired the first ten hitters in order to narrow the lead to 4-1. Moniak then lifted the second pitch he saw into the right field bleachers.
After that, Francis retired the next 14 hitters he faced.
For the first time in his MLB career, Moniak scored at least one run in four straight games. He came in at 7 for 13 in his last three games and 11 for 25 for the month.
In order to trim the lead to 4-2, Adell smashed an opposite-field home run in the bottom half of the ninth inning after making a challenging catch in the ninth to deny Daulton Varsho a single home run.
Right knee pain forced Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe, who had been stuck in a 3-for-39 slump for the previous ten games, to be substituted on defense in the top of the seventh inning.
