This was the hallmark night in a remarkable season for the Angels’ speedster. Figgins had gotten off to a slow start on the year, and was only batting .258 on the season. Nevertheless, he was batting second in the lineup behind the Angels’ hot-hitting rookie Reggie Willits. In the first, Chone snuck a one-out groundball single into rightfield. Unfortunately, he was stranded at third.
In the second, he came up with two outs and runners at the corners. This time he singled to left, scoring Shea Hillenbrand for a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, Figgins again grounded a one-out single into rightfield. He then scored on Orlando Cabrera’s double, giving the Halos a 4-1 lead.
In the sixth, Figgins came to bat with the Angels now behind 6-4. He swatted a double to right-center, but was stranded again.
In the seventh, a flurry of runs by both teams had raised the score to 9-8 when Chone dug in again. With two outs, and Erick Aybar at third, Chone legged out an infield infield single to 2B, allowing Aybar to score the tying run.
In the bottom of the ninth, with the score still knotted at 9-9, Figgins stepped up to the plate with two outs and Willits at first. The crowd was buzzing, knowing that Figgins not only had a chance to win the game, he could make history doing it. This time Chone smacked a walk-off triple up to right field line. Willits raced home with the winning run in the 10-9 victory, but Figgins was the hero.
Figgins’ six hits tied the Angels’ record for hits in a game, raised his average from .258 to .284, and propelled him to a career high .330 BA for the season - the seventh best in Angels’ history. With Figgins as their catalyst on offense, the Angels went on to win 94 games and reclaim their spot atop the AL West.
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