Three games behind the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox for the final wild-card spot in the American League, the Los Angeles Angels will go for a key series win against the Texas Rangers on Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (3-8, 5.42 ERA), who has gone nine starts since his most recent victory on May 16, will oppose veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin (5-7, 4.18) in the finale of a four-game series that has featured offensive fireworks.
Los Angeles won the series opener 6-5 on Monday on a walk-off, bases-loaded walk of Nolan Schanuel in the bottom of the ninth. Texas hit three home runs to back a strong starting performance by Nathan Eovaldi to even the series with a 13-1 win on Tuesday, but the Angels — behind a two-run, go-ahead homer by Jorge Soler in the eighth and two home runs by Mike Trout — bounced back for a 11-8 victory Wednesday.
It was Trout’s third multi-homer game of the season. He also passed Jim Edmonds (393) into 63rd place on the all-time home run list with his 394th in the fifth inning. Next up on the list are Joe Carter (396), Dale Murphy (398), Al Kaline (399) and Andres Galarraga (399) as Trout continues his quest to become the 59th player in big league history to hit at least 400 home runs.
“It’s definitely in the back of my mind, but once I get to the plate, I just try and put the barrel on the ball,” Trout said. “If it comes, it comes.”
Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery praised the veteran.
“We know what he’s capable of at any given AB,” Montgomery said. “He can change the game any time he’s in the box. Tonight was awesome.”
It was hardly a one-man show, though, for the Angels. Soler won Wednesday’s game with a towering 421-foot two-run blast down the left field line in the eighth to break an 8-8 tie. Travis d’Arnaud also homered, Taylor Ward had a two-run single, and Zach Neto also had two hits and two runs as Los Angeles finished with 12 hits and four home runs.
“The offense obviously picked us up tonight, and to bounce back after last night was great,” Montgomery said. “We live and die by the home run, and we were able to get a few tonight.”
Texas is 3 1/2 games out of a playoff spot after losing for the third time in four games. Marcus Semien homered and drove in four runs, and Kyle Higashioka homered and had two RBIs in the loss Wednesday.
“We just didn’t pitch well tonight, and that’s how you lose when you score eight runs,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.
Texas would seem to have the pitching edge heading into Thursday’s series finale.
Corbin, who allowed two runs on six hits over six innings in a 7-4 victory at San Diego in his most recent start on Saturday, is 2-0 with a 4.87 ERA in four career starts against the Angels. That includes a 3-1 win on April 16 in Arlington, Texas, when he allowed one run on five hits in 5 1/3 innings while striking out six.
Kochanowicz, meanwhile, is 0-3 with a 5.09 ERA in three career starts against Texas. He took a 5-3 loss in Arlington on April 17 when he allowed four runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.