ANAHEIM -- For most baseball fans, it’s a childhood dream to play for their favorite team and make a difference. But for Wade Meckler, it became a reality on Friday night.
An Orange County native who graduated from Esperanza High School in Anaheim, Meckler grew up as an Angels fan. In his debut for the club on Friday, he homered in a multi-hit effort with a nice defensive play to help the Angels win, 9-6, over the Rangers.
Meckler gave the Angels a spark right away, making an impressive sliding catch while crashing into the wall in foul territory to end the first inning.
Zach Neto hit a home run into the Angels' bullpen on the first pitch of the bottom half of the inning, and then Meckler stepped into the box to face two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom with two outs and two runners on. Meckler launched the first pitch he saw into the right-field pavilion for a three-run home run to give the Angels a 4-0 lead.
“Man, Wade Meckler set the tone for the game today,” right-hander Grayson Rodriguez said. “I mean, obviously [Neto] leading us off with a homer was great, and anytime you can get a leadoff homer is awesome. But Wade hitting that ball off deGrom, I mean, that's what got me going. Like, put it in four-wheel drive and let's go.”
Meckler’s favorite players growing up were Chone Figgins, Erick Aybar, Torii Hunter and, of course, Mike Trout. And standing behind home plate to high-five Meckler after his first career home run in his first game with his childhood team?
Of course, it was Trout.
“It's pretty surreal,” Meckler said. “You grew up watching a guy every day on TV for 10 years, and then all of a sudden he's your teammate. It's pretty cool.”
Meckler didn’t stop there either. He drew a walk and later singled to finish 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Meckler’s heroics helped Rodriguez settle into the game early, as he was searching for a bounce-back start in his second outing since returning from injury.
Outside of a three-run fourth inning, when he gave up a leadoff home run and a two-run triple, Rodriguez only allowed two runners to reach scoring position. One of them was a ground-rule double by first baseman Jake Burger, who scored on a single in the sixth inning.
“Definitely took a step in the right direction,” Rodriguez said. “Still a lot of things to work on, though. Felt like I was fighting my delivery at times.”
Rodriguez heavily relied on his fastball as he battled to get ahead of hitters at times, and utilized his slider and curveball to produce a combined five whiffs on 19 swings. By the end of his outing, Rodriguez had collected five strikeouts and walked two batters.
“I don't even want to look at the first-pitch strikes,” Rodriguez said. “I don't even want to look at that stat. I know that needs to be better, but we're headed in the right direction.”
Rodriguez ended his outing allowing four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of work.