ANAHEIM -- It was a rollercoaster of emotions for the Angels on Tuesday.
The Angels went from seeing the thrill of their top prospect, Christian Moore tying the game with a solo homer in the eighth inning to seeing franchise shortstop Zach Neto exit with a right shoulder injury in the top of the ninth. But Moore made sure it ended on a positive note, coming through yet again in a huge way with a walk-off two-run homer in the 10th inning to lift the Angels to a 3-2 win over the Red Sox at Angel Stadium.
Moore, ranked as the club’s No. 1 prospect (No. 53 overall) by MLB Pipeline, recorded both his first career walk-off homer and his first career multihomer game, connecting on a two-run blast off lefty reliever Justin Wilson in the 10th after the Red Sox scored once in the top of the inning. It was Moore's third homer since making his big league debut on June 13.
He is the first player in the Expansion Era (since 1961) with multiple game-tying or go-ahead homers in the eighth or later, including a walk-off homer, in a single game within his first three career home runs.
“It was definitely huge,” Moore said. “If you look at my numbers before today, they weren’t too good. I think that's just part of it, being young and just trying to figure it out. There’s a lot of good arms in this league. But I’m finding my way.”
Moore’s first homer of the game came at a key moment off reliever Greg Weissert to knot the game at 1-1, and Neto followed with a single. But Neto was thrown out trying to steal second base and jammed his right shoulder on the slide. He remained in the game but was charged with an error when he bobbled a grounder from Romy Gonzalez and made an awkward throw that sailed over first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr.’s head.
Neto, who underwent right shoulder surgery last November and missed the first 18 games of the season, was visited at shortstop by head athletic trainer Mike Frostad and exited the game. He was replaced by Scott Kingery at short, and will undergo further testing on Wednesday.
“It's feeling good, but I mean, it's not great,” Neto said. “We’re gonna see how I feel tomorrow morning, and hopefully, I come in feeling great and I’m in the lineup. There's always a concern [with it] being the shoulder I just had my surgery on but I'm gonna be hopeful.”
While the Angels are hopeful their star shortstop will be fine, they now have a potential budding star at second base in Moore. Before the game, acting manager Ray Montgomery lauded Moore for the way he’s handled himself defensively despite a relatively slow start to his career at the plate.
But Moore displayed his offensive talent in key moments His first career homer also came at a critical time, tying the game in the seventh inning in an eventual loss in 10 innings to the Astros on Friday.
“I didn’t say he couldn’t hit,” Montgomery said with a smile. “We talked about him in those big moments before he got here. And those were two really special ABs. And then to do that in that situation was really fun.”
The Angels couldn’t get anything going against lefty Garrett Crochet, who struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, but Moore helped the Angels capitalize once they got to Boston’s bullpen.
It was another good sign from Moore, who showed off plenty of power during his tenure at the University of Tennessee before being selected with the No. 8 overall pick in last year’s Draft but has come through more often with his glove than his bat early in his career before Tuesday.
“I saw on Twitter that it was a year ago today we won in Omaha,” Moore said. “The Angels saw something in me in last year's Draft. And they continue to see something in me and I'm gonna keep trying to go out there and win games.”
Moore, 22, entered the game hitting .167 but is now batting .194/.231/.500 with six RBIs through his first 12 games. Neto was frustrated he had to leave the game early with his injury but was excited to see Moore come through in such big moments.
“He’s a special player,” Neto said. “Watching that was pretty cool. He’s gonna be here for a long time. Man, for him to be able to do that in the eighth inning, be able to tie the game up with that swing and have the confidence to do it again in 10th just shows the player he is.”