ANAHEIM — The Angels’ four-run ninth inning rally to beat the San Francisco Giants on Sunday was encouraging to Manager Ron Washington because of the way the Angels scored the runs.
They didn’t hit a homer.
The rally was built on two singles, a walk, a hit batter and ultimately Jo Adell’s three-run double.
“That’s what you want to see,” Washington said. “You just want to see innings keep going. The more the innings keep going, the more you can turn the lineup over and your best hitters all of a sudden end up in the batters’ box at crucial times.”
During the Angels’ offensive rut over the previous week, they were striking out a lot and mostly scoring their runs on solo homers.
Coincidentally or not, the offense looked that way after the Angels played in homer-friendly Tampa, where they hit six homers in the series finale. Washington said before that series that he hoped the ballpark’s cozy dimensions didn’t encourage his players to swing for the fences.
In the first eight games after Tampa, the Angels hit 10 home runs – all solo homers – and that accounted for more than half of their 18 runs. They struck out in 32.8% of their plate appearances, which is well above the major league average of 22.5%. They hit .201.
“I did say in Tampa that I don’t want to be a home run-hitting team,” Washington said. “We’ve got guys that can hit the ball out the ballpark, but I don’t want to be a home run-hitting team. I just want to be a team that can continue to pass the baton to the next guy.”
Washington stopped short of drawing a direct correlation between playing in Tampa and a different offensive approach. He pointed out that the Angels had also faced some good pitchers in the subsequent series.
“Sometimes you’ve got to tip your hat to the other team,” Washington said. “They pitched well. Of course, we didn’t score any runs, but they did pitch well, and we were in those ballgames. Again, we are in the first month. We have to make some adjustments, and I think we will make those adjustments.”
NOTES
Infielder Luis Rengifo was out of the lineup against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday because Washington wanted to give him an extra day after he had root canal surgery on Monday. It was unfortunate timing, because the Angels were facing a lefty, and Rengifo has a .903 OPS against lefties since the start of the 2022 season. …
Kevin Newman, who got the start in place of Rengifo, was 5 for 11 in his career against Pirates lefty Bailey Falter. …
Rengifo’s absence allowed Washington to move Zach Neto up to the No. 2 spot. Washington said he was “planning to put him there” eventually, but wanted to see how well he was hitting after coming off the injured list. Neto was 2 for 9 with a homer in his first three games. Washington wouldn’t commit to Neto begin a fixture in the No. 2 hole yet. The Angels are facing another lefty on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Pirates (LHP Andrew Heaney, 1-1, 2.13 ERA) at Angels (RHP Jack Kochanowicz, 1-2, 6.20 ERA), Wednesday, 6:38 p.m., FDSN West, 830 AM
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