ANAHEIM -- After losing three games in a row and nine of 12, Angels manager Joe Maddon decided to mix things up on Sunday, moving veteran slugger Justin Upton into the leadoff spot for the first time in his 15-year career.
It seemed an unusual move given Upton's background and skill set, but it paid immediate dividends for the Angels, as Upton helped spark the offense in his new role not once, but twice. Upton smacked a leadoff homer for the second straight game on Wednesday and helped set the tone for the rest of the lineup in a 9-8 win over the Rangers to give the Angels a three-game winning streak for just the second time this season.
"These guys have really come up big, and J-Up, even though he had just the one hit, you put up a point on the first swing and you can see what that does to the pitcher," said Maddon, who won his 1,300th career game as a manager. "He pitched relatively well after that, but gave up five [runs in the first]. So again, J-Up is doing his job. He got us going."
With his leadoff blast off right-hander Dane Dunning, Upton became the first Angels player with a leadoff shot in consecutive games since Mike Trout did it from Sept. 8-9, 2012. He's gone 5-for-14 with four runs and four RBIs over his last three games atop the lineup.
The homer helped the Angels to their second straight high-scoring win over the Rangers, as the offense is starting to get going -- even with Trout on the injured list and fellow star Anthony Rendon scuffling since returning from his knee injury on May 14.
Taylor Ward helped pick up the slack in the series finale, as he went 3-for-4 with a homer, a double and a career-high five RBIs. He came up to the plate a triple shy of the cycle in the eighth inning but grounded out to first base.
"It's really fun to get the lineup going like we're doing," Ward said. "I love it. I feel like we have a lot of great hitters, and I wouldn't be surprised for us to continue to do that."
It was an all-around solid performance from the offense, as the top seven batters in the order each had at least one hit and one run scored, and only catcher Drew Butera didn’t record a hit. Rendon also contributed with an RBI double in the fifth, showing signs of breaking out of his slump. Other former backups who have been thrust into more important roles recently also performed well, as center fielder Juan Lagares and second baseman Jose Rojas each went 2-for-4 with an RBI apiece.
"I'm really pleased and proud of the group," Maddon said. "Guys are getting opportunities and they are taking advantage of it. And again, the big part of it is to really get our pitching to settle down, because we have to win 2-1 or 3-2 or 4-3 on occasion to get where we want to be."
As Maddon noted, the offensive output also proved to be important, as the Angels nearly blew a 9-1 lead that was keyed by a four-run fifth inning. The Rangers charged back for two runs in the sixth and five runs in the eighth to make it a one-run game. Closer Raisel Iglesias recorded a four-out save to preserve the win, helping make up for the struggles of relievers Tony Watson and Mike Mayers.
"It was a tough day -- we had a big lead," Maddon said. "But we won the game and Iglesias picked everybody up. But I want to get the other guys like Tony and Mike out there as soon as I possibly can. We have to keep it moving forward. Regardless of how we won it, we won it. And there's been times recently we lost that kind of game, so I have to see it as a positive. Hopefully, we can garner some momentum from just winning and can feel better about ourselves because of that."