Bundy’s strong outing on the mound beats Texas.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS >> We know the Angels can beat up on worse teams. If they are going to get back into the playoff race, now is the time for them to prove they can do more.
Led by a resurgent Dylan Bundy pitching into the seventh inning, the Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 5-0, on Thursday afternoon, taking three of four from the lastplace team in the division.
Now the Angels are about to have three straight series and a one-game makeup against teams with better records than theirs: the Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros and New York Yankees.
“I think it’s great,” manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s the only way we’re going to get better. You have to beat the best to be the best. It’s really that simple . ... Let’s play teams with good records. I like that. I want that. Young players need that to grow.”
For the past month, the Angels (55-54) have won every series against a team with a worse record and lost every series against a team with a better record, which explains why they’ve been hovering around .500.
The Dodgers will certainly present a challenge,
ANGELS 5, RANGERS 0
Up next: although the Angels won two of three against them earlier this season at Angel Stadium in one of the few series to break their pattern.
This weekend, the Angels will use three young starters, giving the ball to 24-year-old Patrick Sandoval tonight, followed by 25-year-old Jaime Barria and 22-year-old Reid Detmers. It will be just the second big-league start for Detmers.
“I’m excited,” Maddon said. “I really am. This could be a glimpse into the future. All three are very talented. They’re gonna face a good lineup in circumstances that they’re not used to, which I like too. The plus side, obviously, is that if we come through that really well, confidence can really soar. And that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Maddon said he’s actually less concerned about his pitchers than his lineup.
Three-time AL MVP Mike Trout and third baseman Anthony Rendon, who is out for the season, will be on the injured list. AllStar first baseman Jared Walsh is eligible to return from the IL this weekend, but might not be ready.
And Shohei Ohtani isn’t expected to get more than pinch-hitting opportunities this weekend because they won’t have the DH.
“That, to me, is going to be more problematic,” Maddon said. “I really anticipate our young pitchers to pitch well.”
All Angels pitchers have been on a pretty good roll lately, even with Bundy getting into the act late in what has been a forgettable season.
After emerging as the Angels’ best pitcher in 2020, Bundy struggled to a 6.78 ERA before he was yanked from the rotation just over a month ago, which he referred to as “rock bottom.”
Since then, Bundy reluctantly agreed to rework his delivery, changing his arm stroke to a more compact, quicker version. He said it’s not something he wanted to overhaul in the middle of the season, but he didn’t have a choice.
“When you’re trying not to miss your spot by three inches in the big leagues, it’s hard to do when you’re trying to create a whole new arm stroke and path on the back side, and do it in the middle of the season and get major league hitters out,” Bundy said. “But I had to change something, so here we go.”
Bundy has started twice since Alex Cobb’s injury allowed him to return to the rotation, and he’s allowed three runs in 11 innings. All of them were in the first inning of his previous outing.
Bundy breezed through the Rangers’ lineup on Thursday, without allowing a runner into scoring position after the first inning. He escaped a first-and-second, one-out situation with a strikeout and a popout.
Those were the first two outs of a stretch in which he retired 13 in a row and 18 of 19. Bundy was pulled after 6¹/³ innings, his longest outing since April 13.
Bundy got a three-run lead in the third, when Adam Eaton hit his first home run with the Angels and they tacked on two more with the help of a Rangers error and a wild pitch.
The lead was five runs when Maddon turned the game over to the bullpen. Junior Guerra and Steve Cishek picked up four outs apiece and then Raisel Iglesias struck out the only batter he faced, preserving Bundy’s first victory since June 7.
“Anytime you make it that deep in the game and don’t allow any runs, it’s going to boost your confidence,” Bundy said. “I’m hoping to get back out there in five, six, seven, eight, nine days again. So we’ll see.”
Angels at Dodgers, 7:10p.m. BSW