Surprise starter Zach Plesac boosts Angels past Brewers

Zach Plesac threw six effective innings in a spot start to help lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.

The Angels had to scramble just hours before the game after scratching scheduled starting pitcher Jose Soriano because of abdominal pain. Plesac joined the team earlier in the day to replace reliever Jose Suarez on the roster, and was expecting to serve the club as a long man out of the bullpen.

After learning of Soriano's issue, the club turned to Plesac, who was on his regular rest as a starter for Triple-A Salt Lake. Plesac, who was 3-7 with a 5.42 ERA in 13 starts for the Bees, gave up three runs on four hits and two walks in six innings, striking out one and making 86 pitches.

The Angels offense was led by Zach Neto, whose two-run homer was his 10th of the season, and Nolan Schanuel, who had two hits.

Luis Garcia, Matt Moore and Carlos Estevez each pitched one inning, with Estevez picking up his 13th save.

The Brewers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning against Plesac (1-0) after Willy Adames led off with a walk and scored on Jake Bauers' two-run homer.

The Angels rallied in the third against Brewers starter Carlos Rodriguez (0-2), making his second career major league start.

Jo Adell walked with one out and scored on a triple by Luis Guillorme. Schanuel followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2, and Taylor Ward's sacrifice fly later inning put the Angels up 3-2.

Neto's two-run homer in the fourth inning increased the Angels' lead to 5-2 before the Brewers ran themselves out of a potential big inning in the fifth.

Gary Sanchez doubled to begin the inning but was thrown out trying to go to third on Blake Perkins' grounder to shortstop. Perkins was then picked off first base by Plesac, which turned out to be costly for the Brewers considering Brice Turang followed with a solo homer, cutting the Angels' lead to 5-3.

--Field Level Media