Dodgers edge Angels in 10th to take first two in Freeway Series

ANAHEIM — Mookie Betts has put to rest any concerns that the pressure of a new contract would affect him on the field.

Betts drove in three runs, including the game-tying homer in the seventh, in the Dodgers’ 6-5, 10-inning victory over the Angels on Saturday.

The Dodgers second foray into baseball’s new world of extra innings, with a runner starting at second base, ended with a victory thanks to Max Muncy’s sacrifice fly and a perfect inning from Kenley Jansen.

Muncy, who came into the game in a slump, also made a nice defensive play and drove in two earlier runs, as did Betts.

A game that included a Mike Trout two-run homer in the first went back and forth, but the Dodgers scored the last two. Betts’ homer off Felix Peña was his eighth of the season. He’s hitting .309 with a 1.050 OPS.

“I don’t think about the pressure aspect,” said Betts, who signed a 12-year, $365-million deal. “It’s definitely there. I’m not going to say it’s not there, but I’m just embracing it. Going in there, playing my game, not trying to do more, not trying to do less. What I’ve always done has gotten me to this point, so I’m trying to continue to do it.”

The winning run came from Muncy, who ended up with the first leadoff sacrifice fly in major league history. Chris Taylor started the inning at second and stole third while Muncy was hitting, allowing him to drive in the run with a fly ball to the warning track in right.

Although Keynan Middleton retired all three Dodgers, he was still charged with the winning run.

Jansen retired the top three hitters in the Angels’ order in the bottom of the inning, without Luis Rengifo moving from second. He struck out Trout to end it.

It was the third time in four tries under baseball’s new extra-innings rule that the Angels have lost. Asked how frustrating this particular loss was, Manager Joe Maddon’s lack of a comment spoke volumes.

“I’ve been asked not to comment on things I don’t like,” he said.

Maddon still liked a few things the Angels did on Saturday, including Andrew Heaney bouncing back from a rough start. Through the first 16 batters of the game, Heaney had allowed four runs. He’d walked three and the Dodgers were hitting the ball hard all over the field.

Maddon, who had a noticeably quick hook on Heaney earlier this season, didn’t even have anyone warming up through his early struggles, and Heaney rewarded him. Heaney retired seven in a row to get through the fifth.

“The last three innings I started to kind of find a little bit of rhythm, definitely did some things better tonight, that I hadn’t done in the last couple,” Heaney said. “But still, you know, I want to win games. I don’t want moral victories.”

He got an assist from shortstop David Fletcher, who made arguably the Angels best defensive play of the young season. Fletcher ranged into the hole to grab a Betts bouncer and quickly released a perfect throw to nail him.

“I know everybody’s into hyperbole but that one, that one there, I don’t know if I’ve seen that one,” Maddon said. “Everything about it was, you have to say as good as you’ve ever seen.”

Heaney stuck around in the game to face the the first two hitters of the sixth, getting two outs when he covered first to complete a slick double play.

Heaney ended up outperforming Walker Buehler, as the Dodgers young star continues to struggle to recapture his All-Star form.

Buehler gave up five runs in 4-2/3 innings against the Angels, lifting his ERA to 5.21 after four starts.

“I really think the stuff was good,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “Some calls could’ve gone either way. The command was good. You’re trying to navigate a great lineup over there. I really think the next (game), he’s really going to hit his stride.”

Buehler’s biggest mistake was a 2-and-2 curve ball to Trout in the first inning. He left the ball right over the heart of the plate, and Trout sent it soaring 433 feet, over the center field fence.

It was the ninth homer of the season for Trout, who has played just 16 games.

The Angels knocked Buehler out in the fifth with a rally that started at the bottom of the order. No. 9 hitter Luis Rengifo dropped a bloop single into center, and then Fletcher took a eye-high pitch and ripped it into right field for a single. Tommy La Stella’s single drove in the tying run.

Muncy, getting a start at third, then robbed Trout of a hit with a diving stop. He got the force at second, but it still allowed the Angels to score the go-ahead run.

“I actually felt a lot better,” Buehler said. “Couple mistakes. The ball in the first inning to Trout. He took advantage of it. One of those death-by-thousand-cut kind of games. Especially in the fifth inning. I feel like I made some good pitches. I just didn’t get the results that I wanted.”

Both bullpens were mostly sharp over the final innings. The only earned run the Angels relievers allowed in 4-1/3 innings was Betts homer against Peña.

Caleb Ferguson, Brusdar Graterol and Jake McGee held the Angels through the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. Both Shohei Ohtani and Max Stassi hit fly balls to the warning track in left, though.

Those typified the game-of-inches moments that aren’t going the Angels way. They fell to 7-14.

“It feels like we’ve been close and it feels like there’s times where we’re getting ready to turn a corner and then, we lose games like this,” Heaney said “I think guys are ready to ready to turn that corner.”