Johnson goes into offseason with 'a little fire' after taking loss in final start

SEATTLE -- When rookie Ryan Johnson took the mound in his first start of August, he came into his outing with an unsightly 7.63 ERA in 46 innings.

But to his credit, Johnson finished strong over the final two months of the season and while he mostly scuffled in an 8-4 loss to the Mariners on Saturday at T-Mobile Park, his recent run provides some optimism for the future. But with the defeat, the Angels must win their final game of the season on Sunday to avoid losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history. They remain the only MLB club to never lose 100 games in a season.

“We're trying to go out there and win, obviously,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “We know it’s been talked about over the last few weeks. But tomorrow, we’re going to come here and be ready to play.”

Johnson was stuck with a no-decision, allowing four runs on seven hits and four walks over five innings. But even with that tough outing, he still finished with a 2.83 ERA over his last 10 starts with 42 strikeouts in 54 innings. The 24-year-old finished the year with a 5.04 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 100 total frames.

He said scuffling in his last start of the year gives him some motivation going into next season, as he wants to continue to clean things up and trust his stuff in the zone more.

“Definitely wasn't my sharpest,” Johnson said. “Had some free passes there that came around to score. Just need to be sharper. But it's probably not the worst thing to go into the offseason with a little fire and a little edge, just taking one that didn't go necessarily the way I wanted it to.”

Johnson’s turnaround coincided with interim pitching coach Tim Levaque and bullpen coach Michael Wuertz taking over in mid-August. They allowed him to bring back his unusual throwing program that has him throw long toss from foul pole to foul pole. He also changed his pitch mix, leaning more heavily on his cutter and sweeper as part of an arsenal that also includes a changeup and sinker.

“There's a lot of things,” Suzuki said. “You can talk about routine, the long-toss program. And having his bullpens be a little bit more specific to help him with his pitch shapes and all those types of things. His sweeper is his bread and butter and it wasn't where he wanted it to be. So getting it where he wanted it to be was a big part of his success.”

Johnson, the club’s second-round pick out of Dallas Baptist in 2024, still needs to prove he can stick as a starter but his last 10 outings provide some hope that he could be another pivotal rotation piece. Fellow rookie Walbert Urena and Reid Detmers both had breakout years while Grayson Rodriguez is under team control for three more years and Yusei Kikuchi is under contract through next season.

“I feel like I was able to finish strong,” Johnson said. “There's a lot of good things that I'm able to carry over. And It's good to have some things to work on, that kind of keeps you grounded. Just kind of go into the offseason and get prepared for next year.”

Johnson uncharacteristically didn’t have great control against the Mariners and found himself in several jams. He went back out for his fifth and final inning but gave up a leadoff single to Randy Arozarena and a double to Dominic Canzone. Both runs came around to score to put the Angels in a four-run hole. And while they rallied for four runs to tie it in the sixth, lefty Mitch Farris surrendered four runs in the seventh.

Suzuki still liked Johnson’s effort in his outing and is excited about what he can do going forward. He’s still working to refine his pitch mix with his funky delivery but things trended better for him down the stretch.

“I thought he was pretty good,” Suzuki said. “The couple innings they scored off him earlier started with a walk and then a blooper. For the most part, I thought he was good. He threw some good fastballs up, which was a positive thing. I know he's been working on that in the ‘pen, so to see it in the game and being successful was a good sign.”