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.
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.
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.
He also 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. He also became the third player this year with three successful ABS challenges in a game.