The Los Angeles Angels will try to accomplish something they haven’t done in over a month when they face the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Win three games in a row.
The Angels haven’t won a trio of consecutive games since June 23-25 when they swept a three-game series from the Boston Red Sox. Los Angeles is 4 1/2 games behind Boston for the final American League wild-card spot. The Rangers are a half-game back.
All-Star Yusei Kikuchi (4-7, 3.23 ERA) gets the start for Los Angeles on Tuesday and will be opposed by fellow veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin (6-7, 3.78).
Kikuchi is 4-2 with a 5.01 ERA in 10 career appearances (nine starts) against the Rangers. Corbin is 3-0 with a 4.62 ERA in five career starts against the Angels. He picked up the win in a 11-4 victory at Anaheim Stadium on July 10, allowing two runs — a two-run homer by Taylor Ward — on seven hits in five innings while striking out six.
Corbin comes in on a roll, going 2-0 with a 2.01 ERA in four starts in July, including back-to-back road wins at San Diego and in Los Angeles against the Angels. He has allowed only five runs and 21 hits in 22 1/3 innings in July while striking out 22.
The Angels won the series opener, 6-4, on Monday night, roughing up Rangers ace Jacob deGrom in the process.
deGrom, who entered the contest with a nine-start unbeaten streak, gave up a season-high five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Ward matched his career high with his 25th home run, a solo shot leading off the bottom of the sixth to break a 3-3 tie. Kevin Newman and Luis Rengifo both hit two-run homers for the Angels.
“It’s great. He’s tough,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said of getting a win over deGrom. “He’s one of the best in the game and he has been for a long time. He made a couple of mistakes … and we capitalized on them with home runs, which was nice.”
Rengifo’s two-run blast to right came off reliever Jacob Webb and extended the Angels’ lead to 6-3.
“The long ball beat us tonight. They got every mistake,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “You give them credit there. They hit a lot of home runs. In this ballpark, the ball flies. If you get it up in the air, it’s got a good chance of going out, and that’s what happened.”
It was just the second loss in 10 games since the All-Star break for the Rangers. The Rangers remain four games behind first-place Houston in the AL West.
“Look, I have a calm group out there,” Bochy told MLB.com. “They’ve been through a lot. They’re not going to dwell on this game here. They’ll put this behind them, we’ll come out and play tomorrow. We’re in July. We have a lot of baseball left.”