Rangers Beat Angels

By Joe Haakenson, The Sports Xchange

ANAHEIM, Calif. — With his club’s recent struggles out of the bullpen, Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister was open to suggestions. Namely, anyone who could get outs in the late innings and finish a game with a lead intact.
He may have found someone in Jose Leclerc.
The 23-year-old right-hander got the final five outs and earned his first career save as the Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-3 Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.
Leclerc entered the game with one on and one out in the eighth inning, with the Rangers leading 6-3. Mike Trout and Albert Pujols were due up for the Angels, so this could be the point where the bullpen collapses.
Texas closer Sam Dyson, in particular, has been hit hard. In four games this season, he has two losses, two blown saves and an ERA of 33.00.
But as Dyson remained seated in the bullpen, Leclerc struck out Trout on three pitches, then got Pujols to fly out on the next pitch to end the eighth. Leclerc gave up a single in the ninth but nothing else, and the Rangers finally turned a late-inning lead into a win.
“Jose came in and got his first save, I hear,” Rangers starter A.J. Griffin said. “Congratulations to him. What is he? Like 19, 16 years old still? I’ll take that any day. He goes out there, throws strikes, challenges guys, he’s fun to watch. He’s got a good live arm.”
Leclerc’s approach with Trout was to throw strikes. He first challenged Trout with a 97 mph fastball, Trout swinging and missing. Leclerc then threw two changeups, Trout chasing and missing both to strike out.
“What I need is to throw strikes, that’s what I think,” Leclerc said. “I get a little nervous, but I take a little break and throw a strike.”
Griffin allowed just four hits and three runs over six innings, and he was supported by home runs from Mike Napoli, Elvis Andrus and Carlos Gomez. The Rangers also got big hits from Joey Gallo (a two-run triple in the fifth) and Rougned Odor (a two-run triple in the ninth).
Angels starter Jesse Chavez (1-1) gave up five runs on five hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings.
“Jesse got into some bad counts and was just missing with some pitches,” Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. “He just wasn’t as effective as was in his other outing, hitting the zone and expanding. He had a little trouble doing that.
“After the two home runs early (by Napoli and Andrus in the second inning) he settled in. But going into the fifth, the leadoff walk hurt, he was missing spots, and those guys got some pretty good looks at him.”
Angels starters are averaging only five innings per start, second worst in the American League. The concern is the wear and tear on the bullpen over time.
“We won’t tire those guys out, when they need rest, they’ll get rest,” Scioscia said of the relievers. “It doesn’t serve any purpose to look at (the starters) as a group. They’re five individuals, and each one of them has different keys, different things they need to work on.
“There’s a lot of different things that are affecting the length of our rotation. … There’s not one magic pill you give five guys, it’s the process of each guy making adjustments.”
The Angels’ offense against Griffin consisted of sacrifice flies by C.J. Cron and Danny Espinosa in the second inning, and a solo homer by Trout in the third.
“I’m just glad it didn’t hit me, I heard it going over my head and it was going pretty fast,” Griffin said of Trout’s homer. “He’s fun to face, he shoots me a smile once in a while when I throw a good pitch, and sometimes he hits the ball hard off me. He’s a good ballplayer, and it’s fun to battle against him.”