On Wed, Aug 12, the Los Angeles Angels hosted the Texas Rangers in the third game of a four-game series at Angel Stadium. The Halos won the second game of the series 3-2 after losing 4-1 in extra innings in the opener. The coaching staff underwent some changes on Tuesday as Mike Maddux was fired as the pitching coach along with assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott and bullpen coach Dom Chiti. With an ERA of 4.23 this season(which is an improvement from 2025’s 4.89 mark), the ultimate flaw in the pitching this season has not been the starting rotation but the inconsistent bullpen with plenty of relievers used. Tim Leveque was installed as the interim pitching coach by John Mozeliak, who is overseeing changes to the coaching staff with only seven weeks left in the regular season. For this Wednesday night game, George Klassen was making his fourth start of the season at the big league level and still looking for the first win in his MLB career. The Rangers countered with Cal Quantrill as their starter.
The game started with Klassen giving up a double to Corey Seager with two outs in the top of the first, but he escaped the jam. The Angels had Wade Meckler hit a lead-off single to start their night offensively, but there was no other action in the bottom of the first. In the top of the second, Klassen got into a jam when he gave up two straight singles with two outs and then he hit Nicky Lopez to load up the bases. Klassen faced Joc Pederson and got him down 1-2, but he threw three straight balls out of the zone to bring in a run on a bases loaded walk. Klassen thankfully got Brandon Nimmo to ground out on the next pitch to escape the jam without further damage.
To lead off the third inning, Seager hit a ball over the right field wall for a solo home run to give Texas a 2-0 lead. But Klassen bore down and started getting into a smooth rhythm for the rest of the game. In the bottom of the third, Denzer Guzman led the inning off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch from Quantrill. After Meckler struck out, Mike Trout came up and hit a 2-1 sinker up the middle into center field. Guzman scored as Trout had a good RBI there. During Nolan Schanuel’s at-bat, Trout stole second base and Schanuel ended up walking. With a chance to tie the game or give the team the lead, Zach Neto came up in being the cleanup hitter in the DH spot. But Neto struck out and so did Moisés Ballesteros to end the inning.
Both pitchers had clean fourth innings and Klassen got Seager to hit into a double play in the top of the fifth inning. The Angels missed out on another scoring chance in the bottom of the fifth after Meckler walked and Trout got another single to center. After Klassen pitched into the sixth inning and got all three Rangers batters out, the Halos faced a new pitcher in Robby Ahlstrom and Ballesteros hit a leadoff single to right field. Vaughn Grissom hit into a force out and Jose Siri came into the game to pinch-hit for Josh Lowe against the lefty Ahlstrom. Siri hit a full count sinker out to left center field, with the ball dropping in and Grissom raced around third base, with him sliding in safely to home plate when the ball got to catcher Elias Díaz. The game was all tied at two and Siri advanced to third on an easy stolen base during an at-bat for Oswald Peraza. After Ahlstrom hit Peraza with a four-seamer on his right hand, there were runners on the corners for Guzman, who decided to drop down a squeeze bunt and the ball rolled in between the mound and home plate. New relief pitcher Peyton Gray raced to get the ball while Siri sprinted towards the plate. Siri slid in head first and Gray threw the ball to Díaz, who was unable to tag Siri out before the plate was touched by the speedy veteran outfielder. The Angels had taken the lead with Siri’s clutch hitting and running. After Meckler grounded into a force out, Trout came up with runners on the corners. In a long at-bat where he fouled off quite a few pitches, Trout hit a fastball up the middle once again and the ball trickled out into center field, with Peraza scoring to increase the Halos’ lead to two runs. The inning ended with a force out, but the Angels had done their damage with a three-run showing.
In the top of the seventh, Blake Weiman entered to pitch and he got three outs, including an impressive catch by Meckler, who caught the ball as he collided with the right field wall. In the bottom of the seventh, Ben Peoples entered to pitch for Texas and he began the inning by walking Neto after a long 13-pitch at-bat. Neto stole second base as Ballesteros drew a full-count walk. Grissom flew out to center field and Siri struck out against Peoples, who faced Adam Frazier with two runners on and two outs. Frazier came into the game as a defensive substitution for Peraza, who was removed from the game after his hand was hit by that fastball from Ahlstrom. Frazier hit a 1-2 changeup down the first base line, but the ball bounced off the first base bag and went into the outfield as Neto scored. Ballesteros tried to make a break for home plate while Jake Burger was holding the ball in his glove, but Burger threw the ball in to home plate and Díaz tagged Ballesteros out to end the inning. The Halos were now up by three runs and finally scored five runs in a game for the first time in almost three weeks.
The eighth inning saw the Rangers get a couple of singles off Weiman, who was relieved by Ryan Watson(who was claimed off waivers last week by the Angels from the Boston Red Sox). With one out, Watson got Ezequiel Duran to fly out to Meckler. In spite of throwing a wild pitch that advanced both runners a base, Watson struck out Jarred Kelenic to escape the jam.
Following a clean bottom of the eighth pitched by Cole Winn, the top of the ninth featured the first save opportunity for Ben Joyce in a very long time. Joyce used some offspeed pitches along with a few fireball pitches to get Burger, Wyatt Langford and Díaz out to end the game with a 5-2 Angels victory. This was Joyce’s fifth career save and the first one since Sept 2024. An incredible accomplishment there.
With the three runs scored in the sixth, the Halos also gave George Klassen his first career big league win. Klassen can thank Mike Trout and Jose Siri for their efforts to give him some run support. With 47 wins on the season, the Angels need at least 16 more wins to avoid their first 100-loss season in franchise history as they continue playing against teams seeking to stay in the postseason hunt or solidly projected to make it into the playoffs down the stretch. The series finale against Texas will feature a pitcher’s duel potentially between Jacob deGrom and Walbert Ureña, with the Angels seeking to win their first series since taking two out of three from the St. Louis Cardinals three weeks ago. The streak of 16 consecutive games without scoring five or more runs is over and that is good news for an otherwise inconsistent Halos offense.
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