ARLINGTON, Texas — Each time the Angels play a solid game in this disappointing season, Manager Ron Washington says he’s expecting to eventually see those performances with more consistency.
This is a start. They’ve now managed a two-game winning “streak” each of the last two weeks.
The Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 9-3, on Friday night with an impressive all-around performance, after beating the St. Louis Cardinals by five runs on Wednesday. Last week’s two-game winning streak, which was their first since the opening week of the season, came against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
On Saturday, the Angels will have a shot at their first three-game winning streak since they won their fourth in a row on April 3.
None of that means much at this point, but the Angels (17-28) will take any encouraging signs they can get.
Facing the defending World Series champions in their first game against an American League West opponent all season, the Angels got seven innings from starter Tyler Anderson, who allowed one run.
Zach Neto and Taylor Ward hit homers. All told, the Angels had 14 hits, with eight of their nine starters collecting at least one. Five players drove in runs.
Neto’s two-run homer in the fourth inning put the Angels on top to stay. He started the season slowly but has now hit .319 with a .907 OPS since May 4. He has hit three of his five homers in that span.
Ward blasted his ninth homer of the season.
In between the homers, the Angels broke the game open with a three-run fifth that included RBI hits from Willie Calhoun and Kyren Paris.
Calhoun had a career-high four hits, improving to .365 with a .959 OPS in 13 games with the Angels.
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The offensive outburst allowed Anderson to cruise through the Texas lineup without much trouble.
Anderson gave up a homer to Jonah Heim in the second. The Rangers had runners at second and third when he escaped that inning.
Starting with the final out of the second, Anderson retired 15 hitters in a row. He ended up allowing only two hits, both in the second inning.
Anderson has now improved his ERA to 2.72 through nine starts, a dramatic improvement from the 5.43 mark he posted in the first year of his three-year, $39 million deal with the Angels.
More to come on this story.
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