Former Halo Andrew Heaney took on soon to be former Halo Griffin Canning on the night of Rev’s birthday celebration. Both did their parts to put a smile on Rev’s face until Jose Quijada crashed the party.
I think there are parallels between Andrew Heaney and Griffin Canning’s Angels careers. Both came in with high expectations, flashed glimpses of promise, but ultimately fell short of expectations. I briefly met Hean-dog on the streets of Seattle and he was a nice guy to me and my wife.
Those two locked horns at the Big A tonight before heading into free agency. In all likelihood this was Canning’s final start as an Angel.
Griffin gave up a solo shot to Nathaniel Lowe in the top of the 2nd to put the Angels in an early hole.
Heaney gave up three runs in the bottom of the second to stake the Angels to a 3-1 lead. Logan O’Hoppe led off with a single and the Plumber knocked a ground rule double.
The real damage came in the bottom of the third inning in the form of back to back home runs.
Following a couple of defensive lapses by Texas, Gustavo Campero cracked his first Major League home run. A three run shot to extend the lead to 6-1
That was followed by this drive from Niko Kavadas to extend the lead to 7-1. Back to back home runs allowed led Heaney to an early shower.
A Taylor Ward error and Canning lacking control led to a bases loaded no out opportunity for the Rangers in the top of the 4th inning. Griffin induced a double play and Texas cut the lead to 7-2. A few pitches later, Jack Lopez actually caught a high pop up to end the inning.
Wyatt Langford is a perfect Texas name and I think he’s going to be a good player in this league for quite a while. He cracked a solo shot in the top of the 6th off Hunter Strickland to make it a 7-3 game.
That was Langford’s 8th home run in September, leading all of MLB. A talented rookie getting better as the season rolls on has to give Rangers fans hope.
The Angels had the Rangers on the ropes in the bottom of the 6th inning when the bases were loaded with no outs. Only one run came across to score and that was assisted by a Rangers error. Eric Wagaman put the ball in play and stretched the lead to 8-3.
A couple of runs off Brock Burke made cut the lead to 8 to 5. There are spots open in the Angels 2025 bullpen and Burke is pitching himself out of them right now.
Jose Quijada showed up late to Rev’s birthday party with no gift and drank all the beer. In reality he walked some dudes, hit another, walked in a run and left the bases loaded with one out and the lead cut to 8-6.
Insert 28 year old rookie Ryan Miller. He gave up a 2 run double to tie the score and the Bad News Bears version of the Angels gave up the go ahead run on a wild throw by Camperos. 9-8 Texas with a man on second and only one out. Jack Lopez booted a routine out to allow another runner on.
Fortunately Miller was able to get the next two men out and send the Angels to the bottom of the 9th only down one run.
That last run proved elusive and the Angels set a new franchise record for losses at 98.
