ANAHEIM -- On Friday night, right-hander Jesse Chavez was forced to make his first relief appearance of the season after the Angels exhausted their entire bullpen during their 13-inning series opener against the Blue Jays. Chavez surrendered a three-run home run to Jose Bautista, which held up as the game-winning hit in the Angels' 8-7 loss.
Three days later, Chavez reverted to starting and took the mound against Toronto for the second time this series and earned some redemption, tossing six innings of one-run ball to lead the Angels to a 2-1 win in Monday's finale and clinch a series split.
"You never want to end with an 'L,' and tonight [the goal] was not let that happen, not make that one pitch a mistake," Chavez said. "Because the other night, I got two quick outs, and it kind of unraveled. Tonight, my mentality was every time I get an out, there's always another one. That was kind of what worked out."
Chavez issued four walks but held the Blue Jays to four hits and struck out seven in the 101-pitch effort. Russell Martin produced the Blue Jays' lone run of the evening in the fourth after hammering an 0-1 fastball over the left-center-field fence for his second homer of the season.
"I think the four walks were a little uncharacteristic of the way Jesse usually goes about his business, but when he needed to make pitches, he did," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He got some big strikeouts, got a double-play ball that helped him, He pitched a good game. That's a tough lineup."
Chavez, 33, worked exclusively out of the bullpen last year and has not started regularly since 2015, but he's performed well in three of his four starts for the Angels this season. He is now 2-3 with a 4.13 ERA across 24 innings in 2017.
"I feel OK," Chavez said. "It took a little bit to get going. When the lights come on, it's a little different trying to control the adrenaline, as far as that goes. But we're heading in the right direction, a lot of us. We just keep at the task at hand, giving our offense a chance to win."