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 off Eovaldi 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 also the first time they won back-to-back games since May 5-6.
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 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.
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 sustained while running to second base.