ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kevin Pillar tucked a keepsake ball into his bag from his 1,000th career hit that meant even more to him than just putting the Los Angeles Angels ahead to stay in a series-clinching victory over the reigning World Series champions.
While Pillar is a California native, his parents just retired to Texas last December and were at the ballpark for Sunday’s game, even when their son wasn’t starting against the Rangers.
“Baseball’s poetic in a way that I’m here in Texas, my family lives here. My parents are here in attendance,” Pillar said after his pinch-hit two-run single in the seventh inning of a 4-1 victory. “I told them I wasn’t in the starting lineup. They still wanted to be here for me to get an opportunity, and to come up in that situation with them here, it means the world to me.”
The 35-year-old Pillar has only been with the young Los Angeles team for about three weeks. It is the ninth big league team over 12 seasons for the outfielder, who signed on April 30, the same day the Angels put three-time AL MVP Mike Trout on the injured list because of a torn meniscus in his left knee that required surgery.
California congressman urges closer consultation with tribes on offshore wind
French PM deploys constitutional power to force passage of pension reform bill
Letter from China: Experience thriving aviation industry in east China town
Indian investigating agency to question Delhi chief minister in liquor policy case
Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Maryland ban on rifles known as assault weapons
Quakes leave 1.5 mln people homeless in Türkiye: UN
French PM deploys constitutional power to force passage of pension reform bill
IAEA chief calls for "maximum restraint" over Zaporizhzhia attacks
Elon Musk gets approval from FDA to implant his Neuralink brain chip into a second patient
UK PM pledges to halve inflation, boost economy
Iran helicopter crash that killed President Raisi could reverberate across the Middle East
Japan hosts G7 foreign ministers' meeting amid protests