Mickey Moniak’s first grand slam highlights Angels’ win over Oakland

Mickey Moniak hit his first career grand slam, and Taylor Ward also homered in the Angels’ 7-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.

Jo Adell had an RBI double and Logan O’Hoppe added an RBI single for the Angels, who have won three of four after taking two straight from Oakland.

Moniak capped the Angels’ five-run rally in the third when he cleared the bases with his fourth homer of the season. The 375-foot drive just barely cleared the yellow line atop the right-field fence.

“When you put the team ahead, it’s always a great feeling,” Moniak said. “I’m just trying to simplify things. Baseball is a weird game. It ebbs and flows. The goal is to stay as consistent as possible. Just trying to get back to that.”

The former No. 1 overall pick has struggled this season with a batting average usually under .200 despite getting regular playing time during his first full season with the Angels, but Moniak has improved sharply in recent weeks with improved plate discipline and what he called a new mindset focused on processes, not results.

“He’s been putting in a lot of work, and he’s trying to find that consistency,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “That big blow he gave us tonight was huge. He needed it, and we really needed it.”

Brent Rooker hit his 14th homer and JJ Bleday had an RBI single for the last-place A’s, who have lost four straight and 17 of 22. Oakland lost its 10th straight road game and dropped to a season-worst 24 games below .500.

Armando Alvarez got his first major league hit and his first RBI for the A’s, ending the 29-year-old’s epic quest for those achievements.

Alvarez doubled in the third, and he drove in a run in the eighth with a single. The former 17th-round pick played exactly 700 games in the minors over eight seasons since 2016, but he earned his first major league callup last weekend after batting .311 with triple-A Las Vegas.

Tyler Anderson (7-7) yielded three runs, five hits and five walks over five uncharacteristically shaky innings for the Angels during which he was visibly upset with himself. The left-hander has been the Angels’ best starter this season, but Anderson has issued 23 walks in his last six starts.

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“Just was all over the place, falling behind,” Anderson said. “The adjustments to make it better just made it worse, and I was just chasing it down the rabbit hole.”

Ben Joyce escaped a jam in the eighth, and Carlos Estévez pitched the ninth for his 15th save — although the Angels closer lost his streak of 26 straight retired batters since May 21 on Tyler Soderstrom’s two-out single.

Mitch Spence (4-4) yielded six runs and eight hits while pitching into the sixth inning of his fifth consecutive winless start for Oakland.

Moniak walked in the sixth and scored on a double by Adell, chasing Spence. Ward added his 14th homer in the seventh.

Alvarez’s RBI single and Lawrence Butler’s sacrifice fly on a sliding catch by Moniak trimmed the Angels’ lead to 7-5.

Angels infielder Miguel Sanó returned to the roster after a 50-game absence because of left knee inflammation and grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the seventh. Right-hander Chase Silseth was also activated off the IL and was assigned to triple-A Salt Lake. To make room for Sanó, infielder Michael Stefanic was sent to Salt Lake.

Up next

Joey Estes (2-2, 5.53 ERA) takes the mound for Oakland in the series finale Wednesday against Roansy Contreras (1-0, 3.90 ERA), who will make his first start since joining the Angels last month in a trade with Pittsburgh. He started 29 games for the Pirates over the last two seasons.