ARLINGTON, Texas — The Angels emphatically ended their losing streak.
After dropping seven straight games, mostly because of a struggling lineup, the Angels let out their frustration with a 13-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.
Read more A Mexican village warned of a cartel offensive during the World Cup. Then the drone attacks began
The Angels got All-Star slugger Mike Trout back in the lineup for the first time in nearly three weeks. By the time he joined the offensive party, the Angels were already up by nine runs. On the 15th anniversary of his major league debut, Trout hit an eighth-inning, two-run homer. It was his 18th of the season.
Trout also drew a walk in the fifth inning, so he was on base for the second of Jo Adell’s two homers. Adell hit a two-run shot to right field in the fourth inning and he blasted a three-run shot out to left-center in the fifth.
Adell, who has 13 homers, had two chances to become the first Angels player since 2009 to hit three homers in a game. He grounded out in the sixth. In the ninth, he got to face catcher Kyle Higashioka, who hit him with a 43 mph pitch.
Zach Neto had three hits, including two doubles. He scored three times on Vaughn Grissom hits.
Grissom drove in four runs on four hits. It was his second career four-hit game. The other was on Sept. 6, 2022, in the 25th game of his career.
The Angels were overdue for this kind of a performance. They scored a total of 16 runs during the seven-game losing streak. Their batting average was .206, they produced a .531 OPS, and they struck out in 27% of their plate appearances.
Read more Democrat Graham Platner says he plans to withdraw from Maine Senate race after sexual assault claim
During the streak the Angels did not have more than a two-run lead at any point. They only had a lead past the fourth inning in one game, their one-run lead in the seventh on Tuesday.
Unfortunately for Walbert Ureña, he didn’t last long enough to get a victory out of the offensive explosion.
Ureña needed 90 pitches to get through four innings. Even though he didn’t give up a run and he allowed only one hit, he walked five and got into too many deep counts.
For as good as Ureña has been in compiling a 2.88 ERA, the next step for him will be to pitch more efficiently. He has gotten past five innings in only seven of his 15 starts. This was the fifth game in which he had allowed one run or no runs but still didn’t get to see the sixth inning because of his pitch count.
That left five innings for the Angels’ bullpen, which was still relatively fresh after an off day on Monday and pitching only two innings on Tuesday.
Left-hander Samy Natera Jr. struck out five of the six hitters he faced in two perfect innings. Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn, right-hander José Fermin and left-hander Mitch Farris each worked one inning.
Read more Santa Ana voters to decide whether to keep 1.5% local sales tax for good
More to come on this story.