Angels lean on fast start to defeat Braves and end five-game losing streak
ATLANTA — The Angels have been struggling for most of the last two months, and Reid Detmers credits his teammates with staying the course and not getting too frustrated.
“We’ve had a couple of rough patches obviously, but everyone in here treats it like another day,“ Detmers said. “There’s nothing crazy about it. We don’t think about it. We go out and play. We don’t think about that stuff.“
Taylor Ward homered in a five-run first, Detmers pitched five scoreless innings and the Angels cooled off the Atlanta Braves with a 9-1 victory Sunday.
Max Stassi went three for four and drove in three runs, and Ward had three hits for the Angels, who improved to 3-14 this month and ended a five-game skid. They had dropped 14 of 16 and were a season-worst 16 games under .500.
Shohei Ohtani homered for the Angels, but they fell 7-2 at Atlanta for their 14th loss in 16 games. The Angels are a season-worst 16 games under .500.
The defending World Series champion Braves had won 14 of 19 and were 35-11 since June 1, the best record in the majors during that span.
Atlanta, which began the day a half-game behind the first-place New York Mets in the National League East, was a season-worst 10½ games out on June 1. The Braves are trying to erase their biggest deficit to win a division title since the division era began in 1969. The 1993 team set the franchise record at 10 games back before winning the NL West.
Braves manager Brian Snitker was still pleased that his team won the three-game series even though starter Ian Anderson struggled badly Sunday.
“Command wasn’t great,“ Snitker said. “He started searching. It’s hard. That’s a tough place to be in as a pitcher. You’re trying your damnedest but no matter what you do it doesn’t work.“
The Angels entered hitting .185 with only 39 runs in July, both last in the majors, but batted around to take a 5-0 lead in the first. Ward’s 13th homer barely cleared the wall in left-center before Jared Walsh and Luis Rengifo singled, and Stassi and Jo Adell each had an RBI single. Phil Gosselin followed with a walk, Brandon Walsh an RBI infield single and Andrew Velazquez an RBI single.
“Huge. It’s a confidence booster,“ Detmers said. “Once we scored those five, we scored runs the whole game. It just kind of loosened everyone up and kept us going.“
The Angels tacked on three more in the fourth to go up 8-0. Shohei Ohtani walked, advanced to third on Ward’s hard single that chased Anderson and scored on Rengifo’s single. Ward scored from first on the same play as right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. made a throwing error to third. Rengifo scored on Stassi’s sacrifice fly.
Detmers (3-3) gave up three hits with two walks and six strikeouts, throwing 52 of 90 pitches for strikes. The lefty improved to 1-0 with a 1.06 ERA in three starts this month.
Detmers retired seven in a row and nine of 10 after striking out Acuña to end the third. His only blemish was a walk to Matt Olson in the first before Dansby Swanson scratched out the first Braves hit with a single leading off the fourth. Detmers got Orlando Arcia to ground out to strand the bases loaded in the inning.
New Angels right-hander Ben Joyce of Tennessee has a history of injuries, but he averages 101 mph and has thrown the fastest college pitch ever.
That was the only major threat he faced.
Stassi, a catcher, believes Detmers has rediscovered the formula that helped him throw a no-hitter two months ago. All it took was a trip back to the minor leagues to tweak a few things.
“Awesome. This was his third start since he went down,“ Stassi said. “He got back to some stuff he was doing in the past. You’d rather take that than a sweep, right? Happy with the win.“
Anderson (8-6) was 2-0 with a 2.30 ERA in three starts this month but he looked more like the pitcher whose 6.91 ERA in June was the highest in the NL last month. The right-hander gave up seven runs and eight hits in three-plus innings.
“It’s been tough all season honestly,“ Anderson said. “Just not performing the way I want to. It’s probably the worst stretch of baseball that I’ve had in my life. It’s been frustrating, but the team is playing good baseball. It’s still fun to be around and be a part of it.“
Acuña’s RBI single in the seventh put Atlanta on the board. Stassi’s RBI triple in the eighth made it 9-1.
Injury update
Angels: Ward left the game for a pinch-runner after hitting a single in the eighth. Interim manager Phil Nevin said Ward had a leg cramp and was fine.
Roster moves
The Angels designated infielder Jonathan Villar for assignment after he went 0 for 4 and committed two errors Saturday. Outfielder Magneuris Sierra had his contract selected from triple-A Salt Lake.
Up next
Angels: RHP Noah Syndergaard (5-7, 4.00 ERA) will face Zack Greinke (3-6, 4.64) when the Angels open a three-game series at Kansas City on Monday.
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