BOSTON — Even though the Angels’ season was effectively over months ago, Zach Neto is showing that he plans to sprint to the finish line.
Neto homered for the second straight day, an early three-run shot that sent the Angels on their way to a 6-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.
The Angels (56-90) took the final two games of the series, winning just their second road series since May against a team that has been among MLB’s best since late June.
“It’s huge,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said of the series win. “These guys are coming in here grinding every day, putting in the work. For them to see the results, on the other end of that hard work is good for confidence. You just want to keep building every day, right?”
Neto slumped through the summer, particularly as trade rumors swirled, with the Red Sox among the potential destinations. Since meeting with interim General Manager John Mozeliak a week after the trade deadline, Neto has been on fire. He has hit .340 with five home runs and a .980 OPS over his past 25 games. He homered on Tuesday night as part of a four-hit game.
“Consistent at-bats,” Suzuki said. “He’s controlling the strike zone. That’s kind of been the biggest thing. Not trying to do too much. It’s good at-bats. It’s staying inside the baseball. It’s using the whole field. All of those things. He’s hitting fastballs, breaking balls. He’s doing a really nice job of staying within himself.”
Neto, who also singled on Wednesday, hit his 25th homer of the season, with the help of the ABS.
With two on and one out in the second inning, Neto took an 0-and-2 pitch off the outside corner. Plate umpire Carlos Torres rung up Neto, who challenged the call. The review showed the ball was a couple of inches outside the strike zone.
Four pitches later, Neto hit a line drive just over the Green Monster.
“That was a big situation,” Neto said. “I didn’t think it was a strike and it helped in my favor. I was able to get an extra life there and hit a three-run homer and kind of change the whole momentum of the game. In those situations, we’re thankful for the ABS.”
The Angels added two more later in the inning on a José Siri homer. Denzer Guzman launched a solo homer in the fourth to put the Angels ahead 6-0.
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While the hitters were building a comfortable lead, starter Ryan Johnson was cruising through the Boston lineup.
Johnson gave up three runs in six innings. He shut out the Red Sox for the first four innings, and then he gave up a two-run homer to Roman Anthony in the fifth and a solo shot to Wilyer Abreu in the sixth.
“I thought he was great,” Suzuki said. “This ain’t an easy place to pitch, as we all know. I thought RJ coming in here, attacking the strike zone. They foul a lot of balls off too. Mixing his pitches. Going six was awesome.”
Johnson threw 103 pitches, which was a new career high. His most in his first 15 major league starts was 91.
Johnson’s velocity was up across the board, including a sinker that topped at a season-high 96.5 mph. He threw 16 first-pitch strikes to the 24 batters he faced.
Johnson has a 2.11 ERA over his last seven starts, as he continues to make a case to be a part of the team’s 2027 rotation.
Angels relievers Ryan Watson, Tayler Saucedo and Samy Natera Jr. got through the seventh and eighth, and then Ben Joyce allowed one run in the ninth to pick up his fourth save of the season.
With the victory, the Angels could at least take some solace in slowing Boston’s run to the playoffs.
“It’s great trying to spoil people’s seasons and playoff hopes if we can’t get in,” Neto said. “There’s a great team on the other side, but we did a pretty good job of maintaining and playing our game of baseball, and we got the series win.”
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