C.J. Cron saves the day with walk-off homer after Angels blow big lead against Tigers

The crack off C.J. Cron’s bat told the whole tale. The night everyone could hit a home run, the man who won Tuesday’s game for the Angels was the only one to hit two. After the Angels lost a seven-run lead to Detroit over two innings, Cron hammered a walk-off two-run homer to beat the Tigers, 11-9, at Angel Stadium.

“I don’t even remember what the count was,” Cron said. “So, clearly, I wasn’t keyholing anything. The ball was flying a little bit today. I didn’t think any of ours were gone.”

But they were. The Angels hit four home runs Tuesday night, and the Tigers hit five. Foretelling what would come, Miguel Cabrera launched a 449-foot home run off a Hector Santiago fastball in the first inning, and Justin Upton launched a 421-foot home run off a Santiago changeup in the second inning. They were the 12th and 13th homers the Angels’ left-hander yielded this season.

He settled to retire 11 straight Tigers, until the sixth inning, when he allowed a single to Ian Kinsler and a 411-foot home run to J.D. Martinez in quick succession.

Gregorio Petit saved Santiago additional trouble in the second inning. Playing his third position in as many days, Petit received a high throw at second from catcher Carlos Perez on a Cameron Maybin stolen-base attempt and quickly applied a tag. After an Angels challenge, Maybin was ruled out, ending the Tigers’ threat.

They threatened again in the seventh, when Santiago again encountered the command issues that had plagued him early. He struck out Nick Castellanos, then walked Upton. He struck out Maybin, then walked James McCann.

Cam Bedrosian, perhaps the Angels’ most effective reliever this season, entered the game. His first action was to walk Jose Iglesias. His second was to battle Kinsler to a 3-and-2 count. He fired a high fastball and Kinsler timed it perfectly, slamming it out to left field, inside the foul pole. The grand slam pushed the Tigers to within a run and set the stage for the late drama.

Kole Calhoun lashed a single to left on Anibal Sanchez’s first pitch of the game. He moved to second when Mike Trout walked, and to third when Albert Pujols grounded into his league-leading ninth double play.

Then Cron ambushed an offspeed pitch and hit it 409 feet for a two-run homer.

In the second, Cliff Pennington singled and took third with one out when Petit performed a successful hit-and-run. Tigers catcher McCann picked Petit off first, but Calhoun walked, and Trout skied a Sanchez fastball high into the night.

At first, Maybin seemed to think he’d catch it short of the warning track. Then he took a few steps back, and another few steps, and then he watched the ball leave the field of play. Trout had a three-run home run, the highest of his career by launch angle.

Pujols followed by lacing a ball at a much lower trajectory. It caromed off an advertisement on the left-field wall into Upton’s glove, and Upton threw to second to easily get Pujols trying for a double.

It was a rough night for the Angels’ erstwhile star. He was hit by a pitch and himself hit into two double plays, raising his league-high total to 10.

It was a wonderful night for Jefry Marte. Called up from triple-A Salt Lake to start at third base Tuesday against his former team, Marte did not make an out in four at-bats. Twice, he singled. Once, he doubled, and once, he homered.

In the seventh, Pennington bunted Marte over to third and pulled his left hamstring while reaching first base. He had just been activated from a two-week stint on the disabled list for an injury to the same hamstring. He expects to head back on it Wednesday.

Left in to handle the eighth and stretched to 32 pitches because Joe Smith was unavailable, Fernando Salas gave up the tying home run to Victor Martinez. Told later that his team’s pitching staff experienced an interesting night, he replied, “Interesting is one way to put it.”

Manager Mike Scioscia brought in his closer, Huston Street, for the ninth. Street had not pitched since April 23, absent because of a strained oblique. In his one outing in extended spring training, his fastball did not surpass 85 mph. But he reached 88 on Tuesday night and pitched a perfect inning.

“You look back at the five or six wins that you really needed to get where you wanted to go,” Street said, “I think it was one of those.”

Follow Pedro Mouro on Twitter: @pedromoura