ANAHEIM -- If there’s been one major bright spot for the Angels this season in an otherwise tough year, it’s been the emergence of rookie right-hander Walbert Ureña.
Ureña has been a revelation, and he kept it going with another strong showing of six solid innings on Monday, but the bullpen scuffled late in a 6-4 loss to the Astros in the series opener at Angel Stadium. Ureña was stuck with a tough-luck no-decision after relievers José Fermin and Sam Bachman gave up four runs in the ninth. Before that, Ureña allowed just one run on two hits and two walks with five strikeouts, improving his ERA to 2.70 in 19 outings (17 starts) this season.
It marked the club’s ninth loss this season after leading after eight innings, which leads the Majors.
“Obviously, tough way to lose,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Definitely a tough one tonight. Tough way to lose. Just couldn't make the plays when the plays were presented to us. They put in the work every day, and they do everything right preparation-wise, and this is just baseball sometimes.”
The 22-year-old has come a long way since he surprisingly made the club as a reliever, then struggled in the first two appearances of his career, coincidentally against Houston. He gave up six unearned runs on March 28 to get sent back down to Triple-A Salt Lake, where he made two starts.
But, since joining the Angels’ rotation on April 19 to make a spot start with right-hander Ryan Johnson going on the injured list with an illness, Ureña has been on an impressive run. In his 17 starts since then, he's posted a 2.75 ERA with 86 strikeouts and 46 walks in 91 2/3 innings. His ascendance is a reason why they could be more willing to part with either lefty Reid Detmers or right-hander José Soriano ahead of Monday’s Trade Deadline.
Ureña has been a pleasant surprise, especially considering he wasn’t thought of as a major prospect as a Minor Leaguer. He was ranked as the club’s No. 18 prospect by MLB Pipeline before the season, and signed for only $140,000 as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2021. His 2.70 ERA ranks third among all qualified rookie pitchers this season, with only Boston's Jake Bennett (2.58) and Cleveland's Parker Messick (2.59) ahead of him.
“I thought he was unbelievable again tonight,” Suzuki said. “Velo was up, stuff was good, execution was great. Tremendous job.”
Ureña had trouble with his command early against Houston, needing 40 pitches to get through the first two frames. But he didn’t give up his first hit until surrendering a solo shot to Taylor Trammell on a 1-2 fastball with two outs in the fourth, and settled in to get through six innings on 91 pitches.
“I felt good,” Ureña said. “I threw a lot of pitches the first couple of innings, but tried to make it quick the other innings. I went six innings to help the team, so it was pretty good.”
Ureña needs to cut down on his walks going forward, but his stuff remains electric and was up a tick against the Astros. His four-seamer was up nearly 2 mph from his season average at 99.3 mph, while his changeup averaged 91.9 mph and his sinker averaged 99.1 mph. He also mixed in 14 sweepers and registered 10 total swings and misses, including five with his changeup, three with his sweeper and one each with his four-seamer and sinker.
“I feel rested and not tired because of my routine,” he said. “My routine has been good and I’m rested, so that's making me throw hard.”
Ureña pitched with the lead throughout his outing, as the Angels knocked right-hander Tatsuya Imai out of the game after he recorded just two outs. Nolan Schanuel plated a run with a sacrifice fly before Vaughn Grissom brought home the second run with an RBI single. Grissom later added a solo homer as part of a two-run third.
But Grissom made a critical error on what looked like a routine double-play grounder in the ninth, which proved costly. It was a rough ninth that saw the Angels commit two errors, hit two batters and walk two (one intentionally).
“I heard someone say the other day, ‘There's two types of people in this game: The ones that are humbled and the ones that are about to be humbled,’” Grissom said. “So, it stinks.”