Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Fri, Apr 10, the Los Angeles Angels started their second road trip with a series opener against the Cincinnati Reds. After losing their previous series to the Atlanta Braves to conclude their opening homestand with an even 3-3 mark, the Angels sought a good win to get themselves back to .500. Jack Kochanowicz started this game for the Halos, while the Reds countered with rookie hurler Chase Burns.

The game opened up with clean opening innings from both starters, but in the top of the second inning the Angels had a two-out rally fueled by a couple of singles by Josh Lowe and Logan O’Hoppe. Yoán Moncada was already on base due to a walk and Adam Frazier came up and walked on five pitches to bring in Moncada to score. The bases loaded walk was all the Halos would get in the top of the second as Zach Neto hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, Eugenio Suárez got a leadoff single but Kochanowicz worked well through the next three batters to end the scoring threat. In the top of the third, the Halos went on another two-out rally when Jorge Soler, who was still allowed to play while appealing his seven-game suspension for fighting against Reynaldo López a few nights beforehand, hit a double to left field and Moncada knocked in Soler with an RBI bloop single. With a 2-0 lead, Kochanowicz pitched another clean inning in the bottom of the third.

The top of the fourth featured another two-out walk drawn by Frazier and Neto didn’t miss out on his opportunity to swing the bat this time. On a 2-2 count, Neto clobbered a four-seam fastball out to deep center field and it went over the wall for a two-run shot. The Angels had doubled up their led to 4-0 and Kochanowicz authored another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Kochanowicz had his most challenging inning of the night as he walked the bases loaded but only gave up one run on an RBI groundout. Another grounder ended the inning with the Angels still up by three. They got that run back in the top of the sixth with a leadoff solo homer by Josh Lowe, who hit his second big fly of the season. A single by Frazier forced Terry Francona to go to his bullpen. Kochanowicz got through the sixth inning without any problems and in the top of the seventh Moncada hit a two-out triple. Unable to bring him home, the Halos still held a 5-1 lead heading into the seventh inning stretch.

Kochanowicz came back out and had another 1-2-3 inning to conclude his night on the mound strong. With a lot of groundball outs, Jack the Grounder was on his way to another win. Some valuable run support occurred in the top of the eighth when back-to-back walks by Cincinnati reliever Connor Phillips forced Francona to make another pitching change. Sam Moll entered to pitch and gave up a single to Neto that loaded up the bases. Mike Trout came up with a chance to hit a grand slam, but instead he settled for a full count walk that brought in another run. With the score at 6-1 and after Nolan Schanuel struck out, Soler came up to the plate. On a 3-1 count, Soler blasted a four-seamer out to deep left center field and it was a no-doubter. A grand slam for the red-hot designated hitter against the Reds. Soler had his third straight game with a homer and continued to prove his worth to the Halos lineup while appealing his rather-long suspension. It was a 10-1 blowout now.

Mitch Farris entered to pitch in the bottom of the eighth and gave up a two-out solo homer to Elly De La Cruz. But besides that hiccup, Farris had a solid outing as he closed out the game in the bottom of the ninth to secure the victory for the Angels, who were now 7-7 on the season. Kochanowicz had his second win of the season as he continues to be useful in a starting rotation filled with inconsistent starters. Neto hit his team-leading fifth home run, Lowe had his second of the year and Soler had his fourth homer on that epic dagger grand slam. The Angels will now try to claim the series victory as George Klassen is set to make his second career big league start on Saturday against Cincinnati. The series finale will feature the 3-0 José Soriano squaring up against Andrew Abbott of the Reds. With four games coming up in the Bronx against the New York Yankees, the Halos are looking to have their record in a good place before taking on one of their classic American League rivals.