LOS ANGELES -- After losing the first five games of the Freeway Series, the Angels managed to avoid a season sweep and it came with the help of an incredible showing from the bottom of their order.
The bottom four hitters -- Jo Adell, Nick Madrigal, Jose Siri and Sebastián Rivero -- went a combined 13-for-15 with four walks, 10 runs scored and 10 RBIs in a 13-5 win over the Dodgers on Sunday. The Angels went 6-0 against their neighbors to the north in 2025 but the bottom of the lineup made sure the Dodgers couldn’t quite return the favor.
They made history in the process, as it marked the first time since the expansion era that a team started out going 10-for-10 from their final four spots, and their .867 average was the highest by batters 6-9 since at least 1900, per Elias Sports.
Madrigal is known for his contact skills but has historically not walked much in his career with a 4.5 percent career walk rate and the league average usually around 10 percent. But he drew out several long plate appearances that affected Dodgers pitchers and made a big impact on the game before he ever put the ball in play.
“I didn’t know until someone told me in the eighth that we were 11-for-11 with four walks at one point,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Just quality at-bats from the bottom of the order.”
Madrigal had only drawn more than one walk in three of his previous 293 career games and Rivero entered with eight career RBIs in 67 games. But Madrigal saw 32 pitches across three walks and added a single in the seventh, while Rivero went 5-for-5 with a double and six RBIs. Adell also went 4-for-5 with a two-run homer as part of a six-run seventh while Siri went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs.
“It was pretty special to watch,” Adell said. “Rivero just had an absolute day. Or really even two weeks, with how well it was. Just great all-around. And Madrigal, I’ve never seen anything like it -- he saw [37] pitches over his at-bats. Unbelievable.”
Madrigal is known for his contact skills but has historically not walked much in his career with a 4.5 percent career walk rate. The league average is usually around 10 percent. But he drew out several long plate appearances that affected Dodgers pitchers and made a big impact on the game before he ever put the ball in play.
He fouled off 17 pitches, which was the most by an Angels player since Garret Anderson fouled off 18 on Sept. 15, 1997. He also became the first player to have multiple plate appearances of at least 12 pitches since Cesar Hernandez on Aug. 12, 2016. And he became the third player this year with three successful ABS challenges in a game.
“I got good pitches to hit, I just kept fouling them off,” Madrigal said. “On one hand, it was frustrating; on the other hand, I felt calm in the box. I just think those are important at-bats to put pressure on them and get the next guy up.”
In the second, Madrigal tormented right-hander Emmet Sheehan with a 14-pitch walk that featured two winning challenges on calls that were initially ruled strikes by home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna, including a 3-2 pitch that turned a strikeout into a walk.
The overturned call seemed to affect Sheehan, as he then walked Siri on seven pitches to load the bases before Rivero came through with a two-out RBI single on an 0-2 pitch from Sheehan. Rivero came in hitting .133 (6-for-45) in 22 games this season, but his go-ahead single knocked Sheehan from the game after 1 1/3 innings and 49 pitches.
“It had a huge impact,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That bottom half of the order, they were fouling off a lot of balls. We couldn’t put those guys away six through nine.”
Madrigal sparked another rally in the fourth, when he drew a six-pitch walk against right-hander Blake Treinen. Rivero later blooped a two-run single into right-center.
It was more Madrigal in the fifth, when he drew a 12-pitch walk against Alex Vesia to load the bases and set the stage for Siri to drop a two-run single of his own.
In the seventh, it was Adell providing the power with a two-run shot that went a projected 433 feet to left field and had an exit velocity of 112 mph, per Statcast. Madrigal, Siri and Rivero came through with three straight singles to set up Zach Neto for a game-changing three-run blast. And Rivero later added an RBI double in the ninth to cap his epic day.
“Obviously, I saw the ball good at the plate,” Rivero said with a smile. “I woke up tired today, but sometimes those are your best days. You feel like you’re worn out from the last few days, but I’m happy I was able to help the team out.”