Angels Rout Rangers
via Texas Rangers
ARLINGTON — The hottest offense in the Majors continued to roll on Tuesday night, as the Angels used a season-high 18 hits, including home runs by Mike Trout and Andrelton Simmons, to trounce the Rangers, 11-1, at Globe Life Park and improve to 9-3 this season.
With the win, the Angels secured their fourth consecutive series victory and matched their division-winning teams of 1979 and 1982 for the best 12-game start in franchise history. Their nine wins are tied with the Astros, Red Sox and Mets for the most in the Majors this season.
Every hitter in the Angels’ starting lineup contributed at least one hit, and seven enjoyed multi-hit nights. Jefry Marte and Martin Maldonado led the way with three hits and two RBIs apiece. The Angels’ offense leads the Majors with 79 runs, 128 hits and 20 home runs this season.
“Our offense is going to be fun this year,” said Trout, who hit his fourth home run of the season off Rangers left-hander Martin Perez in the second inning. “We never think we’re out of a game.”
The Angels set the tone early, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning after Justin Upton drew a two-out walk off Perez to set up four consecutive singles from Albert Pujols, Simmons, Marte and Chris Young.
“We’ve been swinging the bats well for a couple weeks now, so it’s good to see,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “We hit well with guys in scoring position, drove the ball well. We were patient at the plate. I think it speaks to the depth of our lineup. We’ve got some guys swinging the bat well.”
Left-hander Tyler Skaggs needed a career-high 114 pitches to get through five innings, allowing one run on five hits while walking four and striking out seven. He worked out of a pair of bases-loaded jams early and grinded through the fifth to secure his second win of the season. It’s only the eighth time since Scioscia became manager in 2000 that an Angels starter has thrown at least 114 pitches in five innings or less.
“Definitely a frustrating outing today,” Skaggs said. “In the words of my friend, it was effectively awful. But got through it, did my job. Happy Sosh let me finish the fifth, but I got to clean it up. Some mechanical issues still in the first few innings. I feel great, I’m going out there, but I’m leaving pitches up. It’s frustrating, but overall, I thought I battled and our team was great today.”
Despite their hot start, the Angels have struggled to get consistent length from their starters early this season. Over their first 12 games, the Angels have received only three quality starts from their rotation, two of which have come from Shohei Ohtani, who made his first career pinch-hit appearance in the ninth and grounded out to second against Bartolo Colon.
Luke Bard and Eduardo Paredes combined to throw four scoreless innings in relief of Skaggs. The Angels’ bullpen leads the American League with 55 1/3 innings this season and ranks second with a 2.44 ERA.
