Sal Frelick’s leaping catch ends game and Angels’ rally as Brewers prevail 6-3

Sal Frelick robbed Taylor Ward of a tying home run with a leaping catch in center field for the final out of the Milwaukee Brewers’ 6-3 victory over the Angels on Tuesday night.

The Angels staged a three-run rally in the ninth and then got two more runners on base, bringing Trevor Megill into the game as the Brewers’ third reliever of the inning.

Ward drove a 384-foot fly to center, but Frelick confidently ran back and made a one-handed grab on the warning track, stretching just above the yellow line representing the top of the outfield fence.

“I was thinking tie score,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “(But) if Sal is near it, it goes in his glove 99.9% of the time.”

The 5-foot-9 Frelick stretched his arm just above the yellow line representing the top of the outfield fence and held onto the ball while his torso hit the wall.

“It was hit really high, so it was coming down,” Frelick said. “It’s just a little easier versus the ones that are hit really hard or aren’t coming down as much. I was able to see it and jump, and it just went right in.”

Christian Yelich hit his 200th career homer and rookie Tobias Myers pitched scoreless, four-hit ball into the seventh inning for the Brewers, who have won three of four. Jackson Chourio drove in three runs, including a two-run double that turned into a Little League homer on the Angels’ third error of the night in the fourth.

The Angels avoided their third shutout loss of the season when Logan O’Hoppe doubled in the ninth and scored on two wild pitches by Elieser Hernández. Jo Adell and Nolan Schanuel then drove in runs, and the Angels got two more runners on base before Huntington Beach native Megill barely secured his 14th save.

“I thought it was a tie ballgame, but he went up there and got it off the wall,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “We didn’t quit. We just couldn’t do nothing with the starter at the beginning of the game. But then we took care of their bullpen when it came in, but it wasn’t enough.”

Myers (4-2) was sharp in his third straight victory, matching his career high with six strikeouts against two walks while limiting the Angels to one extra-base hit.

Griffin Canning (2-8) yielded eight hits and five earned runs in his fourth consecutive loss for the Angels, who had won eight of their last 13.

Yelich connected in the first inning, sending his milestone solo shot to right for his seventh homer of the season. The 2018 National League most valuable player — a Southern California native — hadn’t homered in 17 games since May 29, and he has only two homers in the past six weeks since returning from a 20-game absence with a lower back strain.

“It was cool to finally get it,” Yelich said. “You kind of know eventually it’s going to happen, but you never know really when. Obviously it took me a while to do it, so pretty cool — a lot cooler in a win. It looked like it was going to be one of those smooth-sailing nights, not an easy win, but an uneventful one. It turned out to be everything but that.”

Frelick then doubled in the second and scored on the first of Canning’s two wild pitches. Milwaukee attempted a double steal in the third, but Brandon Drury threw out Brice Turang at the plate.

Chourio capped a two-out rally in the fourth with his double down the right-field line — and he motored all the way around to score when Adell allowed the ball to get away.

Before the game, Mike Trout said his recovery from knee surgery is going “slower than I thought,” but the three-time MVP remains optimistic. He hasn’t resumed running since surgery on May 3, and there’s no timetable for his return.

Up next

Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta (4-4, 4.38 ERA) looks to rebound in the series finale Wednesday after giving up a career-high 10 hits in his last start for Milwaukee. The Angels counter with Tyler Anderson (6-6, 2.58 ERA), their top starter.