A wacky walk-off 3-2 win for the Halos

THE ANGELS celebrate their wild walkout 3-2 win over the Dodgers on Friday night (Angels photo).

Maybe it wasn’t the most artistic victory ever, but the Angels will take it. In the opener of the three-game Freeway Series at the Big A on Friday night, the home team pulled off a 3-2 walkoff win, thanks to two bonehead plays by the visitors.

With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Shohei Ohtani drew a walk and stole second. He went to third on a throwing error, and scored on David Fletcher’s single to right.

With the score now 2-2, Ian Kinsler lofted what looked to  be an easy fly ball to right field, but Yasiel Puig botched the play, letting it drop for a single. Fletcher raced to second and beyond, but when Puig finally corralled the ball, he threw wildly to home, missing the catcher by yards, That allowed Fletcher to race home with the winning run and trigger a wild celebration by the Angels. 

The victory kept the Angels (45-44) from dropping below .500 and made the Dodgers (47-40) fall into second place in the National League West as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 3-1.

Friday’s wild finish followed fine pitching performances by both starters, Felix Pena for the Angels and Kenta Maeda for the Dodgers.

The series will resume on Saturday in Anaheim.