Angels 5, Twins 4: Ureña’s Seven Scoreless, Then Meckler in the 10th

Seven scoreless, a ninth-inning homer, and a walk-off that belonged to the locker next door

September 17, 2026 - Anaheim - Walbert Ureña threw seven scoreless innings at Angel Stadium. Four hits. Zero walks. Nine strikeouts. Ninety-one pitches. He left with a 3-0 lead. Ben Joyce gave up a two-run homer to Walker Jenkins with two outs in the ninth. The Minnesota Twins scored in the 10th. Mike Trout singled to tie it. Wade Meckler singled to win it.

The Los Angeles Angels won 5-4 in 10 innings. Ureña got a no-decision. Meckler's locker is next to his, the MLB recap said, and Meckler was talking about the pitcher as much as the hit: "It's unbelievable. You just watch his stuff from the outfield, and it looks like a bowling ball at 101 mph from that high slot and then the fastball just stays up. I hope I never have to face him."

Clear. 75 degrees. Wind 9 mph, varying. First pitch 6:38 p.m. Attendance 34,251. The game lasted 2 hours, 58 minutes. Minnesota had 10 hits. Los Angeles had eight. The Associated Press recap on ESPN called it Meckler's first career walk-off.

Three singles in the first, then Ureña owned the rest of regulation

Trout walked. Meckler singled. Moisés Ballesteros singled to center, Trout scoring, Meckler to third. 1-0. Denzer Guzman singled to left, Meckler scoring. 2-0. Oswald Peraza singled to right, Ballesteros scoring. 3-0. Three runs. Three singles. Zero extra-base hits. Taj Bradley had already thrown a full inning and was looking at a 3-0 hole that Ureña was about to freeze.

Ureña faced 25 hitters. The MLB recap said he threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of them and landed 62 of 91 pitches for strikes. His four-seamer averaged 100.1 mph, his sinker 98.8, his changeup 92.1. He generated 22 swings and misses, 12 of them on the changeup. Manager Kurt Suzuki, per the MLB recap: "That might have been one of the best starts I've seen, honestly. Like up there with ones that I've ever caught, either. It was impressive. It was 100 mph, his changeup was incredible. Today, he was virtually unhittable."

The same recap put his ERA at 2.74 in 28 outings (26 starts), 140 strikeouts and 67 walks in 144 1/3 innings. It ranks second among rookies with at least 100 innings, behind Cleveland's Parker Messick (2.57). His 16 starts allowing one run or none are the most by a pitcher age 22 or younger in a season since Dwight Gooden in 1985. Walks have been the hole in that line all year. The MLB recap said he has issued three combined free passes over his last four outings. Thursday was zero. He is 22. That is the version of the sentence that did not need a qualifier.

Bradley matched him for length. Seven innings. Five hits. Three runs. One walk. Nine strikeouts. Ninety-eight pitches. Minnesota did not score until the eighth. Jenkins was on. Brooks Lee lifted a sacrifice fly. 3-1. Andrew Morris threw a scoreless eighth. The ninth was Joyce's problem, not Bradley's.

Jenkins ties it, Lee takes the lead, Trout and Meckler take it back

Victor Caratini singled with two outs in the ninth. Jenkins homered to center, 394 feet, his second, Caratini scoring. 3-3. Joyce struck out three in the inning and still blew the save. Two hits. Two runs. Twenty-one pitches. Josh Lowe doubled in the bottom of the ninth. Jeff Hoffman intentionally walked Adam Frazier. Jose Siri struck out. Extra innings.

Ben Ross started the 10th on second as the automatic runner. Luke Keaschall singled. Lee singled Ross home. 4-3 Twins. Kody Clemens bunted the runners over. Josh Bell popped out. Blake Weiman intentionally walked Ryan Jeffers. Royce Lewis struck out. Minnesota had the lead and left the bases loaded.

Siri started the bottom of the 10th on second. Vaughn Grissom flied out, Siri to third. Zach Neto walked. Trout singled to left, Siri scoring, Neto to third. 4-4. Meckler grounded a single to right, Neto scoring, Trout to second. 5-4. Walk-off. Trout had the tying single. Meckler had the winning one. Ureña had the seven innings that made the rest of it possible.

Jenkins finished 3-for-4 with the homer, two RBI, and two runs. Lee went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Meckler went 2-for-5 with the walk-off RBI. Peraza had two hits and an RBI. The Angels are 59-94. The Twins are 71-82. A 10-inning Thursday in Anaheim does not move either club into October. It does move a rookie pitcher onto the top of a nightly board that does not care about records.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Ureña at 28 pitching fantasy points, first on Thursday. Bradley had 20 in a no-decision. Jenkins had 9 hitting FP. Los Angeles finished with 9 team FP. Minnesota finished with 2.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*