Brenton Doyle’s eighth-inning home run snapped a tie and lifted the Colorado Rockies to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Doyle’s homer off Angels reliever Hans Crouse (4-2) was his 18th of the season and the 11th in July, during which the center fielder hit .333 (30-for-90) with 27 RBIs.
Rockies starter Kyle Freeland (3-4) gave up one run on six hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking none. The only run Freeland allowed came on Logan O’Hoppe’s home run in the fifth.
Freeland was winless going into July but has won three of his past four starts. Tyler Kinley (eighth inning) and Victor Vodnik (ninth inning, fourth save) finished it off for the Rockies, who snapped a five-game losing streak and evened the three-game series.
The Angels had only three at-bats with a runner in scoring position and went 0-for-3. In the seventh, the Angels had runners on first and second with two out, but Freeland struck out Brandon Drury to end the threat.
Then in the eighth, the Angels had a runner on second with two outs with Luis Rengifo at the plate to face Kinley. Rengifo swung and missed the first pitch, then had to leave the game because he aggravated his right wrist on the swing. He had missed nearly three weeks earlier in July because of the wrist injury.
Mickey Moniak replaced Rengifo and assumed a 0-1 count, then struck out to end the inning.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead against Angels starter Davis Daniel in the first when Ezequiel Tovar singled with one out, went to second on Ryan McMahon’s two-out walk and scored on a single by Kris Bryant.
Daniel settled in, getting through five innings without allowing another run. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out five.
Freeland, meanwhile, held the Angels scoreless on two hits through four innings before O’Hoppe went the opposite way and homered to right field, his 15th of the season, tying the game at 1-1.