Kevin Pillar hit a three-run double and Jack Kochanowicz recorded his first major league win to propel the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-4 win over the host Washington Nationals on Sunday.
Kochanowicz (1-2) pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and one walk. He fanned two.
In the fourth inning, Los Angeles’ Brandon Drury led off with a walk. Mickey Moniak then hit a ground ball that slipped past first baseman Juan Yepez and went into right field for a single, which moved Drury to third base.
Jo Adell tapped a grounder to third, but Jose Tena mishandled the ball for an error. Drury scored on the error to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. Tena left the game with a bloody right thumb and was replaced by Ildemaro Vargas.
A walk by the Angels’ Matt Thaiss loaded the bases with no outs. Michael Stefanic grounded into a double play, but Moniak scored to bump the Los Angeles advantage to 2-0.
Zach Neto later walked to load the bases once again for Los Angeles. Pillar proceeded to slap the ball down the left field line for a double. Adell, Neto and Nolan Schanuel scored on the play to give the Angels a 5-0 edge.
The Angels tacked on another run in the seventh. Taylor Ward flied out to center field, then Drury walked. Moniak struck out on a foul tip for the second out, but Adell and Thaiss were issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. Stefanic also walked, which scored Drury to increase the lead to 6-0.
The Nationals’ Jacob Young hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to make it 6-1. Nasim Nunez reached on a one-out infield single, then jogged to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Luis Garcia Jr. singled up the middle to bring home Nunez.
Then, Yepez and James Wood both walked while facing reliever Mike Baumann, who got Vargas to line out to left to end the inning.
Washington loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against Ben Joyce.
Alex Call reached on an infield single that scored one run, and Garcia was walked to force in another. Yepez then grounded into a double play to end the game.
Washington starter MacKenzie Gore (7-10) pitched four innings and allowed five unearned runs on five hits and six walks. He recorded two strikeouts.
Call, Garcia, Young and Nunez each finished with two hits for the Nationals.
–Field Level Media
