ANAHEIM -- With the way things have been going for the Angels and their offense over the last month, it looked like they were in for a tall order by facing veteran aces Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi in the first two games of their series against the Rangers.
But after knocking out deGrom after six runs and just three innings in Friday’s 9-6 win in the series opener, Mike Trout hit an early two-run homer and rookie right-hander Walbert Ureña threw five strong innings to outduel Eovaldi to lead the Angels to a 5-2 win on Saturday night at Angel Stadium. It gave the Angels their first series victory since taking two out of three against the White Sox from May 4-6 and was the first time they won back-to-back games since May 5-6.
“It’s good,” Trout said. “We had a good plan coming in, and we executed it. Just having good at-bats, putting the ball in play. Over the last two nights, that’s what we've been doing.”
Trout set the tone with a two-run shot in the first inning on a first-pitch cutter from Eovaldi after Zach Neto led off the frame with a walk. It was the team-leading 13th blast of the year for Trout and marked the fourth straight game that the Angels homered in the first inning.
It’s been a nice change of pace for the Angels, who recently went through a stretch where the opposing team scored the first run in 15 straight games until it was snapped on Thursday.
“It changes a lot,” Trout said. “The last couple weeks, we've been behind early. So it’s good to give pitchers some support and keep that lead.”
It gave Ureña a lead he wouldn’t relinquish, although he did allow a run in the second inning after giving up a leadoff single to Alejandro Osuna and walking Jake Burger. He gave up a run on a sacrifice fly from Ezequiel Duran but got Justin Foscue to fly out to right to escape further trouble.
But it was a familiar theme for Ureña, who seemingly walked a tightrope throughout his outing but got out of several jams, including ones with the bases loaded in both the third and fifth innings.
Both times Ureña faced Burger with the bases loaded and two outs but struck him out twice with his changeup. Ureña’s last pitch was a 3-2 changeup to Burger that he foul tipped but lost his bat while swinging for a big strikeout to end Ureña’s night.
“After my sinker, that's the best that I have, so I have a lot of confidence in my changeup,” Ureña said. “I can throw it whenever I want, so it's really good.”
Ureña allowed one run on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts to improve to 2-4 with a 2.58 ERA in 38 1/3 innings this season. He threw 93 pitches and registered 16 whiffs, including nine with his changeup.
After he departed, the Angels added a much-needed insurance run on an RBI double from Nolan Schanuel with two outs in the fifth. But Schanuel later left the game in the seventh inning with left calf tightness and is day to day.
The Rangers pulled within one on a solo homer from Kyle Higashioka in the seventh and loaded the bases with one out in the eighth against José Fermin. But Fermin struck out Higashioka and got Danny Jansen to fly out to help the Angels get out of their third jam with the bases loaded.
“Big situations and they're coming through,” Trout said. “Being out in center and seeing their pitches, they're tough. I know how tough it is to hit and to see those pitches. And they made them in big situations, which is big for us.”
Oswald Peraza added a key two-run single in the eighth to give some extra cushion for veteran reliever Kirby Yates, who threw a perfect ninth to get his first save of the year. And now the Angels are looking for their first sweep of the year and to win three games in a row for just the second time this season.
“Good team performances the last couple nights,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Timely hitting, pitchers making pitches to get out of innings and the energy is really good. It's fun to be a part of when you're doing something like this on a nightly basis. I know it's only two nights, but it's a good reminder of how we can play and, when things are going good for us, how good we can be.”