Kevin Pillar gets 1,000th career hit in Angels' win at Texas
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.