Vivas Doubles Washington to a 4-3 Win Over the Angels
Jorbit Vivas plated two runs with a single swing in the eighth inning, turning a tied game into a lead Washington never surrendered. The win probability swung from 60% to 93% on that one double, and that was the ballgame.
Mike Trout opened the scoring the way only Trout can — a 416-foot shot to center in the first inning that put the Angels up 1-0. Washington answered in the fourth when James Wood singled to left to score Ford and knot it at one. The game had the feel of a tight, low-scoring September grind, and through six innings, Cade Cavalli was doing his part to keep it that way. The Washington starter went 6.0 innings, allowing just 3 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 9 — a performance that looks, on paper, like a quality start that deserved a win. Yusei Kikuchi, meanwhile, was shakier for the Angels: 4.0 innings, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 1 earned run before handing the ball off.
The Angels grabbed their second lead in the seventh when Christian Moore singled to left to score Grissom, making it 2-1. But Washington came right back in the eighth. A Pinckney sacrifice fly to right scored Abrams and tied it at two. Then came the moment that decided everything: Vivas doubled to right, scoring both Crews and Morales to put Washington ahead 4-2. The win probability swung from 60% to 93% on that one swing. Two runs, one pitch, game effectively over.
Los Angeles made it interesting in the ninth — Moore doubled to center to score Peraza and cut the deficit to 4-3 — but that was as close as the Angels would get. Moore finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and looks like the one Angel who refused to quit, but the rally came one run short. Washington's bullpen held the door shut. The story of the night was the eighth inning: Washington absorbed a lead, tied it, then blew it open in the span of two at-bats. Vivas went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI and authored the decisive moment. CJ Abrams went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Dylan Crews went 1-for-4 and scored the go-ahead run on the Vivas double. This was a Washington team that appeared to know exactly what it was doing in the late innings, and the Angels — despite Trout's first-inning thunder and Moore's late push — couldn't match it.