Angels do not get the clutch hits but still pick up a 3-2 victory over the Rays

The Angels and Tampa Bay Rays each entered Monday’s series opener with 23 wins and 23 losses. They are .500 ballclubs, flawed but capable.

Predictably, their first of four games swung on the tiniest of margins: a wild pitch. The Angels were the beneficiaries of the decisive mistake in a 3-2 victory at Tropicana Field, scoring the winning run in a four-walk, no-hit inning.

“In a tight ballgame, walks can define some things,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They did tonight.”

Cameron Maybin led off the game with an infield single, stole second, and took third when Derek Norris threw the ball away. Mike Trout and Luis Valbuena walked, and Albert Pujols popped out. Andrelton Simmons hit a sacrifice fly and the Angels had an early lead.

It lasted less than 10 minutes. Corey Dickerson, the only American League hitter with more total bases than Trout this season, began the Rays’ half of the first inning with a home run. Three batters later, Logan Morrison followed with another, the Rays led and Angels starter JC Ramirez twice kicked the dirt in frustration.

Ramirez soon regained his composure. He faced only one batter over the minimum over the next five innings, and manager Mike Scioscia stuck with him to start the seventh. When Daniel Robertson hit a two-out single to left, Scioscia brought in David Hernandez, who finished the inning and began the eighth.

And when Hernandez issued a leadoff walk to Steven Souza Jr., Scioscia called in left-hander Jose Alvarez to face consecutive left-handers. He retired both. Closer Bud Norris entered to face Evan Longoria, who chopped a single to shortstop. Up next, Morrison struck out swinging on a 3-and-2 slider below the zone.

In the ninth, Norris induced a groundout and two strikeouts, with one walk amid them. He has three four-out saves this season, most in the American League.

It was another successful, if unconventional, start for Ramirez, a converted reliever. Ten of the 20 runs Ramirez has given up in eight starts have come in the first inning. He has an 11.25 ERA in that inning, a 2.18 ERA in all others, and a 3.65 ERA overall.

“It’s been a headache for me, this inning,” Ramirez said. “First, I tried to be aggressive. Now, I’m trying to be fine. It didn’t work for me. I have to find something that I can do in my routine that can let me go through those innings.”

For road games, he floated the idea of throwing warm-up pitches in the batting cages while his teammates batted in the first inning.

“I don’t want to be too aggressive, because I don’t want to be tired in the fifth inning,” he said.

In Monday’s fifth, Maybin moved the score back to a tie with his second home run of 2017. He shot a 3-and-2 fastball high inside the domed stadium, bouncing it off one of the catwalks onto the field. After a throw, he stood at third with an apparent triple. But, per Tropicana Field’s regulations, balls that contact the catwalks are homers. So, Maybin was awarded home.

“When I hit it, it looked like it was going to hit one of them,” Maybin said. “Then, I was just hoping they called it a homer because I don’t hit very many. You hope maybe they give you the benefit of the doubt.”

The Angels took the lead in the seventh on four walks, two of them intentional. Maybin worked one of them, passing on an appetizing 3-and-2 fastball from Jumbo Diaz. At that, Cash replaced Diaz with another right-hander, Ryne Stanek, and ordered Trout intentionally walked.

The bases were loaded for Pujols. In a 1-and-1 count, a Stanek pitch escaped catcher Derek Norris, and Jefry Marte scrambled home with the game’s final run.

The Angels produced only five hits but drew eight walks. They were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Flawed, but capable. For the night, it did not matter.

Neither did a second-inning stolen-base attempt, but it supplied the night’s most memorable moment. Making his major league debut, Nolan Fontana was first called safe, but the Rays challenged. Before the umpires saw a review, second base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt told them he was convinced he had erred. The call was reversed without a review.

“When you’re an umpire,” Wendelstedt said, “you have to be honest with yourself.”

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Twitter: @pedromoura