Angels at Rangers
With heavy hearts, the Los Angeles Angels picked up an emotional victory in Texas on Tuesday and will try to make it two in a row over their American League West rivals when they visit the Rangers on Wednesday. A day after the shocking death of left-hander Tyler Skaggs -- the team's leader in wins, starts and strikeouts -- the Angels somehow pulled themselves together and picked up a 9-4 victory to begin what is now a three-game series in Arlington.
They took advantage of 11 walks and four Texas errors to snap a three-game slide and pull back to .500 at 43-43 on an otherwise somber night. "We've got an angel watching over us," outfielder Kole Calhoun, who capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth, told reporters at an emotional postgame press conference. Although it may seem somewhat trivial to Los Angeles, it did pull within four games of the second wild card spot in the AL and can try to keep pace behind young right-hander Griffin Canning on Wednesday. The Rangers counter with Ariel Jurado as it tries to snap a three-game slide.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, FS West (Los Angeles), FS Southwest (Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Angels RHP Griffin Canning (3-4, 3.79 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Ariel Jurado (5-3, 3.90)
Canning, a second-round pick in 2017, was one of the organization's young hurlers who looked up to Skaggs, saying that he saw Skaggs "like an older brother" in a Twitter post. The 23-year-old Canning was 0-3 over a six-start stretch before defeating Oakland on Thursday with six solid innings, allowing two runs and three hits. He held Texas to a run and three hits in five frames on May 24.
Jurado gave up seven runs in just three innings three turns ago in Cincinnati but has bounced back in fine fashion. He first allowed four runs in six innings against the Chicago White Sox and then spun seven scoreless in a win at Detroit on Thursday. The 23-year-old has made seven straight starts, the first of which saw him allow two runs in 6 1/3 innings at Los Angeles on May 26.
WALK-OFFS
1. Los Angeles All-Star 2B Tommy La Stella left Tuesday's game with a right shin contusion and OF Brian Goodwin departed with a right wrist contusion. Both will undergo a CT scan and evaluation Wednesday.
2. Rangers SS Elvis Andrus had three stolen bases while extending his hitting streak to nine games in Tuesday's loss.
3. Angels 1B/DH Albert Pujols had one hit Tuesday to tie Tony Gwynn for 19th on baseball's all-time hit list at 3,141.