Angels remain hot in Texas
They’re 9-3 for first time since 1982 after Trout, offense shine again in rout.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Tyler Skaggs wouldn’t reveal the source, but he was more than happy to share the message.
“Effectively awful,” someone in the Angels clubhouse called his five innings of huffing and puffing Tuesday night in an offensive-induced 11-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.
“Perfectly described,” Skaggs said. “A frustrating outing today. But I got through it. Did my job. Happy [manager Mike Scioscia] let me get through the fifth.”
The Angels finished with 18 hits and were eight for 11 with runners in scoring position as they won for the ninth time in 12 games.
All that offense again obscured the lingering rotation issues they’ve experienced through the season’s first two weeks.
A group also hit with injuries, the starters have struggled to just hang around.
Before Tuesday, only the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins, on average, had received fewer innings from their starting rotations.
The Angels have only three quality starts, two by rookie Shohei Ohtani.
Skaggs had to work to minimize the damage early, leaving the bases loaded in the first and second innings.
As his teammates scored in each of the first four innings, he battled to make it through five to qualify for the victory.
“I gotta clean it up,” said Skaggs, who threw a careerhigh 114 pitches. “Some mechanical issues still in the first few innings. … I caught a lot of breaks today.”
Entering the game, the Angels led the majors in runs, hits, extra-base hits, home runs and total bases.
Then Martin Perez happened. The Texas lefthander never appeared comfortable as the Angels continually twirled around him on the bases.
Every starter had at least one hit and seven had at least two. And the latter group didn’t include Justin Upton, who still reached base four times in four plate appearances.
“We take pride in just passing the baton,” said Mike Trout, whose two hits included his fourth homer, a 441-foot shot to left-center. “Our offense is going to be fun this year.”
The outcome was clear before the game was even halfway finished, the reeling Rangers as lifeless as the atmosphere inside their ballpark, which was more than three-quarters empty.
Through the first four innings, the Angels were 13 for 23 with four walks and two homers. Only leadoff hitter Zack Cozart hadn’t scored or driven in a run.
Upton already had walked three times and the bottom third of the order was six for nine with three runs batted in.
“It’s phenomenal,” Skaggs said. “I love the run support. Keep scoring as many runs as possible. Makes my job a lot easier.”
The Angels started a lineup that had Luis Valbuena batting ninth. Valbuena hit 22 home runs in 2017, a total that was third on the team and would have tied for third on the World Series-winning 2002 Angels.
By the time this one mercifully ended, Rene Rivera was playing first base, Valbuena was playing second and Ohtani had grounded out in his first pinch-hitting appearance.
The Angels have won six of their last seven games and at 9-3 matched the franchise mark for best record 12 games into a season.
They’ve been 9-3 twice previously, in 1979 and 1982, and reached the playoffs both seasons.
While a baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint, it is worth noting that the first strides of the 2018 Angels have been impressive — even on a night when the performance of their starting pitcher was linked to the word “awful.”
“He got out of the jams,” Trout said of Skaggs. “He battled tonight.”