Rangers Lose To Angels
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Matt Shoemaker endured a rocky first inning Monday.
His Los Angeles Angels teammates made sure the right-hander had a chance to bounce back.
The Angels erased an early 3-0 deficit and emerged with a 6-3 victory over the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park.
Shoemaker (2-0) has two-thirds of the Angels’ wins on the young season after going 6 1/3 innings and striking out seven. He won his ninth consecutive decision after giving up three runs in the first and not another the rest of the way.
“That’s why I love this team,” said Shoemaker, who is 4-0 against Texas. “That was a great team effort. These guys picked me up big time tonight.”
Los Angeles (3-4) took the opener of a three-game series and snapped a three-game losing streak by setting a season high for runs. The Angels won for the 10th time in their past 11 games at Texas.
The Rangers (3-5) dropped consecutive games for the first time this season. Texas, which had only three hits after the first inning, fell to 1-3 at home.
Shoemaker received all the offense he needed when right fielder
Collin Cowgill and third baseman David Freese clubbed two-run home runs in the fifth.
The Angels had 12 hits, including two each from Cowgill, center fielder Mike Trout, designated hitter C.J. Cron and second baseman Johnny Giavotella.
Three relievers finished off the Rangers, including closer Huston Street, who earned his third save with a scoreless ninth.
“Just a great game from where it started to where it ended up,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Texas left-hander Ross Detwiler (0-2) gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Los Angeles took a 5-3 lead in the fifth against Detwiler.
Cowgill and Freese both went yard in the four-run uprising that included two walks. It was the third homer for Freese on the season and Cowgill’s first.
“Lost the command of his fastball,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said of Detwiler. “The pitches that the guys hit (for) the home runs were up.”
The Rangers opened big with four first-inning hits, including three consecutive line drives by the heart of the order. Detwiler gladly took the support after not seeing a run scored for him in his first start of the season.
Center fielder Leonys Martin opened the inning with a single, and with one out, third baseman Adrian Beltre, designated hitter Prince Fielder and first baseman Mitch Moreland roped hits into the gap. The latter two hits scored runs, with shortstop Elvis Andrus’ sacrifice fly bringing home Fielder.
However, that was all the offense the Rangers could manage off Shoemaker.
“He settled in and started making pitches down in the zone, away,” Banister said. “You saw the steady strikes.”
The Angels cut the lead to 3-1 in the fourth. Left fielder Matt Joyce drove in shortstop Erick Aybar with a two-out double that Texas right fielder Shin-Soo Choo got a glove on but couldn’t pull in.
Joyce tried to stretch it into a triple, but after a lengthy replay delay, he was called out to end the inning.
The Cowgill and Freese homers in the fifth put Los Angeles on top, and Angels pinch hitter Kole Calhoun added an RBI single in the ninth.
Angels relievers Cesar Ramos, Joe Smith and Street combined to retire eight of the nine batters they faced, four of them on strikeouts.
