After snapping their seven-game losing streak on Saturday night, the Los Angeles Angels will aim to split their four-game series against the Detroit Tigerson Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
That will be easier with veteran closer Kenley Jansen in a better frame of mind.
He got his seventh save of the season by retiring two batters on three pitches on Saturday in his team’s 5-2 victory after a disastrous outing in Friday’s 9-1 loss to the Tigers.
Jansen entered Friday’s game in the ninth inning with the score 1-1. He promptly gave up back-to-back home runs to Riley Greene and Colt Keith.
In all, Jansen allowed six runs and three home runs (Javier Baez hit a two-run homer). And with the Angels up 5-1 in the ninth but with Detroit runners on second and third with one out on Saturday, Jansen wanted redemption.
It again was Greene and Keith who were waiting for Jansen. But this time Greene hit a grounder to first, which scored the runner from third, and Keith lined out to short to end the game.
“You just got to go back out there,” Jansen said. “… It’s a long season. If you’re doing it for a while, you’re going to continue to learn crazy things happen. You got to control it, stick to the process.”
Said Los Angeles manager Ron Washington: “You saw how bad he wanted it,” Washington said of his closer. “… We told him if they got two on that he was coming in the game. And he wanted this opportunity again.”
“He’s a pro, and pros don’t back down,” Washington continued. “Pros accept whatever happens to them, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to be pros, trying to accept what’s happened to us and just keep working through it. Because when you look back, we’ve been in a lot of ballgames.”
Right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (1-4, 5.29 ERA) will start for Los Angeles on Sunday. Kochanowicz has faced the Tigers once in his career, giving up no runs and five hits in six innings of a 3-0 win last August.
The Tigers had their previously hot bats cooled off Saturday by Angels starter Kyle Hendricks, who allowed only run and four hits in 7 2/3 innings. Detroit had 26 runs and 11 home runs during a three-game winning streak that was snapped with Saturday’s loss.
“We weren’t timed up on anything, which is the art of pitching,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We really didn’t have the adjustments, and he fooled us.”
Fundamentals also have been a strong point for the Tigers, whose 21 wins are the most in the American League. But they failed to make an easy play with two outs in the second inning when outfielders Greene and Kerry Carpenter collided in right-center field and they combined to drop the ball, allowing a run to score. Right fielder Carpenter got the error.
“I saw them collide and, obviously, that’s a play that needs to be made,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s frustrating. You don’t think it’s going to be a big play, but it was a big play for much of the game.”
Right-hander Reese Olson (3-2, 3.55 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Tigers on Sunday. Olson has opposed the Angels once in his career, surrendering two runs and five hits in a no-decision last June. The Tigers lost 6-5.
–Field Level Media
