Giants led late 9th inning lead slip away in tough loss to Angels

The San Francisco Giants led a 4-1 ninth inning lead slip away during Sunday's series finale against the Los Angeles Angels.

BY FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Apr 21, 2025, 7:50 AM

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ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 20: Zach Neto #9 of the Los Angeles Angels beats the throw to Sam Huff ...

(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

Jo Adell capped a four-run bottom of the ninth with a one-out, bases-clearing double, delivering the Los Angeles Angels a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif., and denying Justin Verlander his first win of the season.

After Verlander threw six sharp innings in pursuit of career win No. 263 and Sam Huff hit his first home run since 2023, the Giants took a 4-1 lead into the ninth on the verge of a sixth win on a 10-game trip.

But the Angels, staring at a sixth loss in their last seven games, rallied against San Francisco Giants closer Ryan Walker, who walked Mike Trout and served up singles to Jorge Soler and Logan O’Hoppe to load the bases with one out.

Walker (0-1) then got two strikes on Zach Neto before hitting him with a pitch, forcing in a run. He got Adell into a two-strike hole before serving up a liner into the left field corner. Neto scampered home from first with the walk-off run, beating a throw with a head-first dive.

Michael Darrell-Hicks (1-0), who threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in his fourth big-league game, was credited with his first win.

Verlander, now winless in his first five starts for the Giants, was masterful against the Angels, limiting them to one run and two hits over his six innings. He walked two and struck out six.

The only run he surrendered came in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Neto, his first of the season, temporarily lifting the Angels into a 1-1 tie.

Huff then lifted his tiebreaker in the top of the sixth, a blast to center field that also scored David Villar, who had singled with two outs against Angels reliever Brock Burke.

Playing then for the Texas Rangers, Huff hadn’t homered since September 2023 against Cleveland.

Willy Adames drove in the Giants’ other two runs with RBI singles.

Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi was pulled after 5 1/3 innings, charged with one unearned run and five hits. He walked four and struck out six.

Neto scored twice and had two RBIs for the Angels, who were out-hit 8-6.

Huff, Adames and Heliot Ramos had two hits apiece for the Giants.

–Field Level Media