ANAHEIM — A day after Zach Neto got his first career start at DH, he was out of the lineup entirely.
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Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said he could tell from watching Neto that he needed a break.
“When you’ve played this game, you can kind of sense, not pressure, but just a little bit more mental grind,” Suzuki said. “This part of the season, we are in a stretch of 13 straight games. I know he’s got numbers, but it wasn’t about that. It was more about giving him a day to clear his mind and take a day off.”
Neto was 0 for 3 with a walk on Wednesday night, and two of his at-bats with runners in scoring position were especially rough. In one he struck out swinging at three straight pitches out of the strike zone. In the other, he hit a weak pop-up on the first pitch.
Neto was hitting .143 with 26 strikeouts in his last 70 plate appearances. He has hit one homer in that span.
Neto, who had started 116 of the Angels’ first 121 games at shortstop, pushed back on getting the day off.
“Of course he did,” Suzuki said. “But it’s much needed for him. As much as you you want him to you want to play, obviously we’re a better team with him in there, sometimes he needs a reset. He’s been posting up every single day, every inning of every game. He deserves this one.”
JOYCE UPDATE
When Ben Joyce first came back to the majors after 16 months rehabbing from shoulder surgery, the right-hander was pretty shaky.
Then he faced his second batter.
Since walking the first hitter he faced last week, Joyce has allowed just one other single. He hasn’t allowed a run in any of the four games. He picked up his first save in nearly two years on Thursday night, with a perfect inning.
“I feel like I’ve been in a good groove throwing-wise,” Joyce said, “and even in between games, kind of figuring our my rhythm and routine and everything. I feel like I’m in a good spot and stuff is feeling good.”
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Joyce has averaged 101.3 mph on his four-seam fastball and 95.8 mph on his sinker, both similar to what he was throwing before he was hurt.
“A lot of hard work and time rehabbing,” Suzuki said. “For him to come out and have that outing or the last few outings here has been pretty impressive.”
The next issue is whether the Angels will try to use Joyce on back-to-back days.
For now, the Angels are not going to push it.
“We’ll slow play it a little bit,” Suzuki said. “Eventually I believe he would be (available). Are we going to do it? I’m not sure if we are. But I think as he gets more time up here, those are discussions that will definitely happen. Right now I like where we’re moving right now.”
Suzuki said it’s possible they won’t use him back-to-back at all this season, or maybe just once.
“Maybe we’ll try it out just so he knows going into the offseason he can do it,” Suzuki said. “That would be something that potentially could happen.”
NOTES
Infielder Oswald Peraza, who was hit in the hand by a pitch on Wednesday night, said he was feeling better on Thursday. He was planning to test himself swinging a bat. …
A night after the Angels used a safety squeeze to push home the go-ahead run, Suzuki said they’re trying to be better at manufacturing runs. “We’re getting better and better,” Suzuki said. “We’re almost where we want to be, execution-wise, at those small ball, those little details. We’re trying to get better every single day, but the intent is there. The buy-in’s there. I think that’s a step in the right direction.”
UP NEXT
Royals (RHP Seth Lugo, 5-7, 4.41 ERA) at Angels (RHP Grayson Rodriguez, 3-5, 7.20 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM
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