Ben Joyce's First 2026 Save Took Just 12 Pitches
The Angels built the lead with a double, a steal, a bunt and a well-placed single. Joyce made the ninth wonderfully uneventful.
Twelve pitches. Eight strikes. Three Texas hitters came up in the ninth inning on August 12, 2026, and Ben Joyce retired all three. The sequence was almost comically tidy: Jake Burger popped out, Wyatt Langford watched strike three, and Elias Díaz flied out to center. That secured the Los Angeles Angels' 5-2 win and gave Joyce his first save of the season.
Joyce's ninth inning
- Result
- Angels 5, Rangers 2
- Pitching line
- 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 runs, 1 strikeout
- Pitches
- 12, with 8 strikes
- Season milestone
- First save of 2026 and fifth MLB save
The lead was built out of useful little things
The Angels did not hit a home run. Instead, their decisive sixth inning had the pleasing clutter of a station-to-station rally. Pinch-hitter Jose Siri doubled home Vaughn Grissom, then stole third. Denzer Guzman put down a sacrifice bunt that scored Siri. After a force out moved Oswald Peraza to third, Mike Trout beat out a run-scoring infield single. Three runs, assembled from one loud double and several small pieces.
Trout finished with three hits and two RBIs. He had driven in Guzman earlier with a third-inning single, and Adam Frazier added the fifth Angels run in the seventh. Starter George Klassen supplied six innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out five. Blake Weiman and Ryan Watson carried the lead through the next two innings. Then the bullpen door opened for Joyce.
No baserunner, no ninth-inning algebra
A three-run lead is a save situation, but it can still make a fan perform nervous arithmetic after every baserunner. Joyce spared everyone the calculations. Burger's popup stayed in the infield. Langford took the only strikeout. Díaz sent the final ball to Trout in center. The box score contains no hit, walk, wild pitch or stranded runner beside Joyce's name. There was nothing to untangle.
The outing also continued a careful, encouraging start to his return. The Angels activated Joyce on August 4. Through the August 12 game, Baseball Savant lists four appearances, four innings, one hit, one walk, four strikeouts, a 0.00 ERA and a 0.50 WHIP. Those numbers describe only 13 batters, so nobody should build a grand season claim from them. They do describe four scoreless outings, which is plenty to enjoy on its own.
His first career save had fireworks
Joyce's first major-league save came on August 3, 2024, against the Mets. He entered with two outs and a runner on third in the eighth, induced a groundout, then returned for a perfect ninth. CBS Sports recorded 1 1/3 spotless innings. He ended that game by striking out J.D. Martinez with a 104 mph fastball; MLB's pitch record gives the more precise reading as 104.7.
That finish was built for a highlight reel. The first save of 2026 had a different charm. It took one dozen pitches and produced three plain outs, each immediately useful. Closers are often celebrated for creating theater. On August 12, Joyce offered the rarer gift: he turned the final inning into a short errand and sent everybody home on time.
Sources
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