The 2026 season is getting out of hand for the Los Angeles Angels yet again, as they continue to be the little brother to the Los Angeles Dodgers' big brother. But every now and again, the little brother gets one over the older one, and on Sunday night, this was the case — with the Angels taking a 13-5 victory over their rival Dodgers to at least not come away empty-handed from that three-game weekend set.
The Angels needed herculean performances all-around to beat the much more talented Dodgers squad, and that's exactly what they got — and from the unlikeliest of sources, no less. The last four hitters of the order for the Angels popped off, going 13-15 from the plate, with one home run, 10 runs batted in, and four walks.
In so doing, the Angels made history by having their six to nine-hole hitters combine for the highest batting average for any team's bottom four hitters, at .867, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
The night belonged to nine-hole hitter Sebastian Rivero, a light-hitting catcher whose OPS was at .344 across 49 plate appearances in 2026. He had the game of his life, going 5-5 from the plate and driving in six runs.
Jose Siri, the eight-hole hitter, also went perfect, going 3-3 on the night to go with a walk and two runs batted in. The stars aligned for the Angels that their bottom two hitters combined to go 8-8.
In fact, the bottom four hitters of the Angels lineup started the game on a perfect 11-11 streak. It wasn't until the eighth inning when one of them made the first out of that quartet, with Jo Adell striking out swinging to end the inning. To start the ninth, Nick Madrigal flew out to right field. Those were the only two blemishes, as Siri and Rivero made everything right by hitting a single and a run-scoring double, respectively, to make history.
