Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Mon, Aug 31, the Los Angeles Angels hosted the New York Yankees in the opening game of a three-game series at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif. The Halos had lost seven straight games entering this one in once again matching their season-high in consecutive losses. With devastating late-inning losses to the Cleveland Guardians and Philadelphia Phillies, the Angels were in desperate need of a feel-good win. The Yankees were also in need of a good result to open up this road trip of theirs as they seek to track down the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East while holding off the Boston Red Sox for the top Wild Card spot in the American League. Walbert Ureña was making the start at the Big A, where he had won seven of his eight wins in 2026. New York would counter with their top pitching prospect in Elmer Rodriguez.

The game started with Ureña giving up a couple of singles to Cody Bellinger and Amed Rosario, but he got out of the jam with a strong strikeout of Trent Grisham. Ureña would lock in and have a very solid start in this Monday night game. The Halos’ bats woke up against Rodriguez, who amassed a high pitch count with a couple of walks. In the bottom of the third, Tyler Heineman led off the inning with a double to right center field. Rodriguez would get Zach Neto and Mike Trout out, but he walked Wade Meckler for the second time in the game. Vaughn Grissom then came up and delivered a clutch RBI single to shallow center field that scored Heineman. The Angels had an early edge against the Yankees and it would only grow.

Ureña kept his pitch count low as he mowed through the New York lineup. He received more run support from his teammates in the bottom of the fourth, with a two-out rally being fueled by Rodriguez throwing a curveball that hit Oswald Peraza on the helmet on a 1-2 count and then Heineman got hit on the foot by another Rodriguez curveball. Neto came up next and on a full count sinker, he hit the ball out to left field for an RBI single that brought Peraza home. Bellinger threw the ball into second base, but Heineman was already on his way to third base and he slid in safely under a tag from Rosario. Neto also advanced to second base and this set up a golden chance for Trout, who had an active 12-game hitting streak against the Yankees entering this series. Trout hit a 2-1 sinker from Rodriguez out to left field and the ball fell in, with Heineman and Neto scoring to double up the Halos’ lead. Rodriguez was taken out by Aaron Boone and Michael Fulmer, who made a few appearances for the Halos out of the bullpen before being placed on waivers last week, came in to pitch.

With a 4-0 lead to work with, Ureña gave up a slight mistake when he gave up a solo home run to New York right fielder Spencer Jones. Other than that slip-up, Ureña continued getting loads of Yankees out on ground balls, soft fly balls and punchouts. In the bottom of the fifth, the Angels got another offensive chance when Grissom hit a leadoff double and with one out, Christian Moore came up against his hometown team(he’s from Brooklyn, but supported the Yankees) and dropped in a blooper that hopped up on a sliding Jones’ glove. Grissom scored and Moore raced to second as the ball trickled into the infield. New York had a bad night defensively speaking and the bottom of the fifth was a big lowlight for the fielders. During an at-bat to Josh Lowe, Fulmer threw a ball to second base that went off the glove of José Caballero and into the outfield. Moore saw that and ran to third base, but the throw into the infield by Grisham was so bad that Moore ran all the way to home plate and scored. With a 6-1 lead, Ureña pitched into the sixth inning and retired the top three Yankee hitters in Ben Rice, Bellinger and Luis García Jr.

The bad defense continued for the Yankees as Neto and Meckler got on against Luis Gil, who was making his first career appearance as a reliever. With runners on the corners, Grissom came up and hit a ball up the middle that could have easily been a double play, but Caballero botched the handoff of the ball to second baseman Jazz Chisholm and then proceeded to throw the ball to first on a hop, but the ball went off the glove of García and everyone was safe. Neto scored as Caballero committed two errors on that play alone. With a 7-1 lead, Ureña re-entered to pitch in the top of the seventh as he got Grisham to hit into a double play following a leadoff single by Rosario. Chisholm got a two-out single, but Ureña closed out his start with a stellar sinker to strike out Jones. Ureña was pumped up as he was on his way to another win.

Following a solid top of the eighth pitched by Tayler Saucedo, the Halos decided to pile on the lead against David Bednar, who appeared in a non-save situation. Trout and Meckler got singles and Grissom hit a ball that went off the left center field wall that was a two-out double. With them being one run away from double-digits, the Angels got that run on an RBI single by Moore, who had a multi-RBI game for the first time this season at the big league level.

The Halos won 10-1 as they finally broke their seven-game losing streak and got their 53rd win of the season. Ureña had matched a career-high eight strikeouts and also surpassed Jim Abbott for second-place on the all-time strikeouts list for a rookie pitcher in Halos history. With a four-RBI night by Grissom and multiple runs batted in by Trout and Moore, the Angels achieved their first home game with double-digit runs since Jun 10 against the Houston Astros.

In spite of a low-offensive efficient month of August, the Halos had a great month with their starting pitching staff having one of the best ERAs for a single month in franchise history. With only 24 games left in the regular season, the Angels are seeking to avoid their first 100-loss season in franchise history and they need to win 10 more games in order to do so. But the pitching that the Halos bats have to face will not be easy going forward as the Yankees will see Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler take the mound in the two other games in this series. Also, the Angels are scheduled to face Paul Skenes for the first time ever on Sun, Sept 6 in the series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates. With good starting pitching of their own, the Halos will seek to have a strong September to close out a less-than-ideal season and also avoid finishing in last place in the AL West as well.