RBI singles by Anthony Rendon and Taylor Ward in the 9th inning lead Angels beat past Rays 5-4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Rendon and Taylor Ward hit run-scoring singles off struggling closer Pete Fairbanks in the ninth inning and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Wednesday night.

The victory came a day after after Tampa Bay scored twice with two outs in the ninth to tie it and won 7-6 on Amed Rosario’s 13th-inning RBI single.

“You’ve got to be resilient,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “You’ve just got to keep driving, and we did. I think we did a good job of experiencing what we went through last night and coming out there tonight and just trying to take the game that we play today.

"And I think we did that.”

Fairbanks intentionally walked Mike Trout before Ward’s two-out hit. Ward has 21 RBIs in 18 games.

“I wouldn’t have pitched to Mike myself,” Washington said. “That’s why we’ve got Taylor Ward behind him. Pick your poison.”

Fairbanks (0-2) has 9.00 ERA in eight games this season with seven earned runs allowed in seven innings.

“I thought it generally (stunk),” Fairbanks said.

Rosario gave the Rays a 4-3 lead with a two-run homer in the eighth off Hunter Strickland (1-0), who allowed a two-out single in a scoreless ninth before sealing the win.

Trout hit his eighth homer, a 400-foot first-inning solo drive to center off Zack Littell. He has gone deep four times in six games against the Rays this season and tied Carlton Fisk for 79th on the career home runs list with 376.

Angels starter Reid Detmers gave up two runs — one earned — and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and saw his ERA rise from 1.04 to 1.19. The lefty had allowed one unearned run, including a no-hitter on May 22, 2022, over 13 innings in his other two starts against Tampa Bay.

Los Angeles took a 2-1 lead following nifty baserunning by Nolan Schanuel in the fifth.

Schanuel was on first when Zach Neto popped out to Yandy Díaz. The first baseman gave the ball to Littell and while the pitcher was walking back to the mound, Schanuel safely advanced to second and then scored on Rendon’s single.

“A heads-up play," Washington said.

Luis Rengifo made it 3-1 on a run-scoring double in the sixth on Littell’s career-high 107th and final pitch.

Littell gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, and his ERA rose from 1.17 to 2.14.

Randy Arozarena got the Rays within 3-2 when he drove in just his third run over the last 14 games in the sixth.

ANGELS ADDITION

The Angels signed reliever Bryan Shaw to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Salt Lake. The 36-year-old was designated for assignment by the Chicago White Sox on April 12.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Angels: Reliever Robert Stephenson needs elbow surgery and will miss the rest of the season. He signed a $33 million, three-year contract during the offseason. .. INF Brandon Drury (hamstring) was out of the lineup for the second straight game. He's expected to start Friday at Cincinnati.

UP NEXT

Angels RHP Griffin Canning (0-2, 9.88 ERA) and Rays RHP Ryan Pepiot (1-2, 5.40 ERA) are Thursday’s starters.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Los Angeles Angels' Luis Rengifo watches his RBI double off Tampa Bay Rays starter Zack Littell, next to catcher Rene Pinto during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Los Angeles Angels starter Reid Detmers pitches to a Tampa Bay Rays batter during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Tampa Bay Rays starter Zack Littell pitches to a Los Angeles Angels batter during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout runs the bases after hitting a solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays starter Zack Littell during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington sits in the dugout before the team's baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Los Angeles Angels starter Reid Detmers pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Los Angeles Angels' Logan O'Hoppe (14) greets Mike Trout (27) after Trout's solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays starter Zack Littell during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Los Angeles Angels' Anthony Rendon, center, waits at home plate to congratulate Taylor Ward, right, after Ward's two-run home run off Tampa Bay Rays releiver Kevin Kelly (not shown) during the ninth inning of a baseball game Monday, April 15, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

Los Angeles Angels' Anthony Rendon (6), Mike Trout (27) and Mickey Moniak (16) celebrate after the team's win over the Tampa Bay Rays in a baseball game Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Democratic state Sen. Timothy Kennedy won a special election Tuesday for the New York congressional seat vacated by Democrat Brian Higgins.

Kennedy defeated Republican Gary Dickson for the upstate New York seat, helped by a 2-to-1 Democratic registration advantage in the district, which includes Buffalo, Niagara Falls and several suburbs.

Kennedy has been in the state Senate since 2011. Describing Washington as “chaotic and dysfunctional,” he said he would focus in Congress on reproductive rights, immigration and stronger gun laws like those passed in New York after a 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket.

“New York has been a bulwark against Donald Trump’s extremist MAGA agenda that has infected our politics and our nation’s capital,” he said during the campaign. “The MAGA extremists have made the House of Representatives a laughingstock.”

Registration wasn’t Kennedy’s only advantage. The Democrat raised $1.7 million as of April 10, compared with Dickson’s $35,430 total, according to campaign finance reports. Kennedy spent just over $1 million in the off-season election, compared with $21,000 for Dickson as the candidates worked to remind voters to go to the polls.

Kennedy will serve in Congress for the rest of the year. He is on the ballot, along with Republican attorney Anthony Marecki, for the general election. On Tuesday, former town supervisor Nate McMurray, who planned to challenge Kennedy in a Democratic primary in June, said in a social media post that elections officials had removed him from the ballot because of insufficient signatures.

Earlier this year, the GOP’s slim House majority was narrowed in a closely contested Long Island-area special election that followed New York Republican George Santos’ expulsion from Congress. That race, won by Democrat Tom Suozzi, was viewed as a test of the parties’ general election strategies on immigration and abortion.

Dickson, a retired FBI special agent, acknowledged the challenges of running in the upstate district when he announced his candidacy at the end of February, saying he was in the race to give voters a choice. He said he supports Trump as the Republican nominee for president, while describing his own politics as “more towards the center.”

Voting took place with Trump on trial in New York City in the first criminal trial of a former American president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

FILE - Sen. Timothy Kennedy, D-Buffalo, left, speaks in the Senate Chamber of the state Capitol, Feb. 6, 2017, in Albany, N.Y. In a special election Tuesday, April 30, voters in upstate New York's 26th Congressional District will choose between Kennedy, a Democrat, and Gary Dickson, the first Republican elected as a town supervisor in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca in 50 years. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

FILE - West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson, who is on the Republican ticket for the 26th Congressional District special election, speaks while on his campaign trail, April 25, 2024, in Buffalo, N.Y. In a special election, Tuesday, April 30, voters in upstate New York's 26th Congressional District will choose between state Sen. Timothy Kennedy, a Democrat, and Dickson, the first Republican elected as a town supervisor in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca in 50 years. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)