Barria and Cahill lead LA Angels to sweep of Reds with piggyback strategy

The LA Angels tried a new strategy Wednesday using a piggyback start with Jaime Barria pitching the first five innings followed by two innings by Trevor Cahill.

The LA Angels strategy worked to perfection as Barria was solid through five innings allowing only a solo homer to Yasiel Puig with no walks and six strikeouts.  Barria faced the Reds order twice which is what Angels manager Brad Ausmus wanted.

In the sixth inning Trevor Cahill came on in relief and fired two scoreless innings allowing only two hits getting the Angels through to the eighth innings by facing the Reds order one time through.  Cahill turned the ball over to Cam Bedrosian who shut the Reds down in the 8th to keep the game tied at 1.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Angels offense came alive as the Angels scored four runs in the inning. David Fletcher drove in Mike Trout with an RBI-single.  The next batter was Justin Bour and the powerful lefty blasted his second homer of the game, a three-run shot to right to make it 5-1 and it gave the Angels some insurance.

For Bour the two home runs give him eight for the season and it couldn’t come at a better time for the Angels.  Ty Buttrey finished it off with a scoreless ninth to give the Angels the sweep with a 5-1 victory.

The Angels are again over the .500 mark going into the official second half of the season, with a. 41-40 record.  Hopefully the second half of the season will be even better.

More from Halo Hangout

• New York Post columnist has LA Angels bringing veteran starter back to LA
• Dodgers make wild mistake signing failed LA Angels starter
• Why LA Angels’ Qualifying Offer to Raisel Iglesias could become historical
• Both Gold Glove finalists for LA Angels getting snubbed is a complete joke
• Marcus Stroman definitely appears to be interested in the LA Angels

However the story of the night was the piggyback start scenario working to perfection for the Angels allowing two pitchers who have struggled to be effective despite neither getting  win in the game, but helping the Angels stay close until the offense was able to get it going in the 8th. Shohei Ohtani also went 3 for 3 in the game and is now batting .291 on the season.

The Angels will now take on the Oakland A’s in a four-game series that will feature two teams trying to stay in the race. In related news the Angels sent down Jake Jewell to Triple-A Salt Lake, but they had to designate Wilfredo Tovar for assignment.  We will now have to see if Tovar will clear waivers and then be able to be assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake as well.

For now that means that Luis Rengifo will be staying in the majors.  However, when Andrelton Simmons is activated the Angels will have to make another move so Rengifo may still get sent down to the minors. Simmons most likely will be activated tomorrow.