The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Rosenberg's first win cause for celebration
ANAHEIM >> The beer shower was welcomed. Even the ice water poured over his head was a nice touch. But the eggs?
Angels pitcher Kenny Rosenberg wanted all of the clubhouse ritual after earning his first career win Sunday in the series finale against the Cleveland Guardians.
The right-hander gave up one run and scattered six hits over five innings to give the Angels a 2-1 victory at Angel Stadium.
“Obviously, it’s nice to get the first one out of the way,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg (1-1), who has worked mostly as a middle reliever in his major league career, sealed the victory in his second major-league start with the Angels by striking out the final batter he faced in the fifth.
“It’s nice to have my own game,” he said. “It (starting) is what I’ve done most of my career in the minors. But you have to earn those opportunities.”
Manager Phil Nevin praised not only Rosenberg’s effort, especially the emotion he displayed after getting his final out, but the play of the entire team.
“Regardless of where we are at, these guys want to win,” Nevin said. “They are competitive and have been all year. We’ve had ups and downs all year, but we can
finish on a high note.”
The Angels aren’t going anywhere after the regular season, but they took a step in finishing strong, not only by taking three of four from Cleveland, but they got reinforcements that could play a role in the club’s final 18 games.
Ahead of Sunday’s game, the Angels got pitcher Ben Joyce and shortstop Zach Neto back from rehab assignments. Joyce is expected to see more action down the stretch, an opportunity the right-hander is looking forward to getting with Shohei Ohtani not in the rotation.
Joyce made a brief appearance to start the seventh, giving up one walk in his one inning before getting the final out on a popup to third.
First baseman Nolan Schanuel (back) and right fielder Mickey Moniak (back) are expected to return sometime this week.
Against the Guardians, the Angels jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Randal Grichuk, who doubled, scored on a sacrifice fly. Cleveland evened the score the following inning on Kole Calhoun’s fourth homer of the season.
With the game tied at 1, Cleveland had a chance to take the lead in the fifth. Rosenberg gave up a twoout double to Steven Kwan and followed with an intentional walk to Jose Ramirez to put two on. The runners advanced on a double steal, but Rosenberg managed to get the last out on his fourth strikeout of the game.
“Any time you get a strikeout to end the inning with two runners on, it’s a nice feeling,” Rosenberg said. “When you know you’re at the end of your rope and have a 3-2 count. And it’s not even really a great pitch, but nonetheless when you get that result there’s a lot of emotion.”
Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, a product of Mission Viejo High and Cal State Fullerton, had a solid showing in his first appearance at Angel Stadium, despite two balks, the second leading to the winning run in the third.
Bibee (10-4) said he tried to “turn the page” from the balks and lock in on his game.
“It’s pretty unbelievable to pitch here,” Bibee said. “I’ve been coming here my whole life to see games. I went to college 10 minutes from here, so it was super cool to do this in front of a lot of family and friends.”
Angels right-hander Andrew Wantz came on in the sixth and immediately gave up a single and a walk to put two runners on but he got out of the jam when Guardians second baseman Gabriel Arias hit into a double play.
The Angels used four pitchers before turning it over to closer Carlos Estevez, who recorded his 30th save.