Wild pitch decides a wild game, 10-9

After sweeping a three-game series with the Oakland A’s, the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night found that the Texas Rangers are made of sterner stuff.

In a wild game in which the Angels (69-66) twice rallied from deficits, the Rangers prevailed 10-9 and dropped the visitors from Orange County to 1.5 games back of the second AL wild card spot.

Albert Pujols led the Angel offense with four hits and four RBIs. Newcomer Justin Upton contributed immediately with two hits, a walk, and two runs scored. Overall the Halos had 14 hits on the night. Mike Trout, Andrelton Simmons and Cliff Pennington each had two hits, and C.J. Cron had two RBIs.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in Arlington, the Angels fell behind 6-2 after three innings. They closed to within two in the fifth, but the Rangers extended their margin with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

With a spirit of never-say-die, the Halos scored three in the seventh and two in the eight to tie the contest up at 9-all. But in the bottom of the eighth, Carlos Gomez scored on a wild pitch to grab what proved to be the winning run.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia emptied the bullpen, employing a total of nine pitchers. Cam Bedrosian (4-4), who threw the wild pitch, was tagged with the loss.

The series will continue on Saturday with Ricky Nolaso (6-12) starting for the Angels.