Quantrill shuts down Angels as Rangers climb into tie atop AL West
The Sporting Tribune
Host · Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas — Cal Quantrill delivered six scoreless innings and Ezequiel Durán and Elias Díaz supplied the power as the Texas Rangers defeated the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3, on Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field.
The Rangers took two of three games from the Angels and improved to 65-66, moving into a tie with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West. The Angels fell to 52-79 after finishing their six-game road trip through Houston and Arlington with a 3-3 record.
Quantrill (6-4) scattered six hits, struck out six and did not issue a walk. The right-hander extended his scoreless streak to 15 innings and has completed at least five innings while allowing no more than one run in five consecutive starts. He lowered his ERA to 2.90. Quantrill has allowed only one run across his last four appearances.
Texas gave Quantrill all the support he needed during a three-run second inning against Yusei Kikuchi. Durán led off the inning by sending a 1-2 slider into the left-center-field seats for his 14th home run of the season and the first homer by either team in the three-game series.
Former Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe, making his Rangers debut after being recalled from Triple-A Round Rock before the game, followed with a single. He scored when Cody Freeman drove an RBI triple into center field, and Freeman came home on Díaz’s sacrifice fly to give Texas a 3-0 lead.
Díaz struck again in the fifth, launching a 1-2 fastball into the second deck in left-center field for his sixth home run of the season. Brandon Nimmo added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to stretch the Rangers’ advantage to 5-0.
Kikuchi (0-4) allowed five runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk over five innings in his first major-league start since April 29. The 35-year-old left-hander had missed nearly four months because of inflammation in his pitching shoulder and was activated from the 60-day injured list before the game. He said afterward that he was encouraged to finish the outing without experiencing pain despite the result. Kikuchi opened the season with a 5.81 ERA in seven starts before suffering the injury.
The Angels collected 11 hits but repeatedly failed to capitalize. They put a runner in scoring position in each of the first three innings, finished 2-for-10 in those situations and stranded nine runners.
“The big hit eluded us,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “That’s how the game goes sometimes.”
Los Angeles finally broke through against the Texas bullpen in the eighth. Zach Neto led off the inning with his team-leading 22nd home run before Josh Lowe delivered a sacrifice fly and Gustavo Campero added an RBI single to cut the deficit to two. Chase Silseth escaped further damage by retiring José Siri on a fly ball with two runners aboard.
The Angels threatened again in the ninth and brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate with two outs, but Jacob Latz struck out Moisés Ballesteros to secure his 26th save.
Neto finished an impressive road trip batting .500 with 14 hits in 28 at-bats, including four doubles, a triple and two home runs. He drove in nine runs and recorded a 1.429 OPS during the six games. The Angels still won eight of their 13 meetings with Texas this season despite dropping Sunday’s series finale. Los Angeles went 3-3 on the trip.
The Angels return home Monday to open a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians. Right-hander George Klassen (2-1, 3.74 ERA) is scheduled to start against Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick. The Rangers begin a road series against the Chicago White Sox on Monday.
