Jack Kochanowicz went up against Nathan Eovaldi to finish up the regular season. How many of these guys were on the team at the start of the season? I count three. Not much in the way of highlights today.
Inning #1:
Jack Kochanowicz retired the Rangers on seven pitches. Taylor Ward almost hit a homer for the first out. Jack Lopez and Eric Wagaman strung together a couple of rinky dink hits to put two men on for Kevin Pillar. Pillar was hit by a pitch to load them up for Brandon Drury who then struck out. Matt Thaiss grounded out to second. (The Jack Lopez hit was later ruled an error).
Inning #2:
The Rangers got a couple of men on but they were stranded. Travis Jankowski was hit by a pitch. Hopefully this won’t be a trend in this last game of the season. The Angels just made a bunch of outs except for Michael Stefanic, who drew a walk.
Inning #3:
The Rangers all grounded out 1-2-3. The Angels were also retired 1-2-3 although Kevin Pillar mixed things up with a strikeout to go with all the ground outs.
Inning #4:
Nathaniel Lowe doubled and Jonah Heim singled to make it 1-0 Rangers. The Angels didn’t respond in kind.
Inning #5:
The Rangers went three up three down with fly ball outs. Niko Kavadas flied out. Michael Stefanic and Taylor Ward both grounded out.
Inning #6:
The Rangers again went three up three down. Everybody was swinging away today. Jack Lopez got a hit to lead off. Eric Wagaman struck out looking. So did Kevin Pillar. Brandon Drury struck out on a foul tip.
Inning #7:
Leody Tavares got a one out single on a liner to short. Travis Jankowski walked. Dustin Harris doubled to make it 3-0 Rangers. Ezequiel Duran reached on a Jack Lopez error. Marcus Semien popped out. Josh Smith grounded into a force out. Matt Thaiss doubled to right. Gustavo Campero grounded out to third. Niko Kavadas flied out to left. Michael Stefanic got a base hit but Matt Thaiss was gunned down at the plate, or was he? The Angels challenged, but the runner was out.
Inning #8:
Guillo Zuniga came in to pitch for the Angels. Wyatt Langford singled and then stole second base. Nathaniel Lowe homered to right. 5-0 Rangers. Jonah Heim and Leody Tavares hit fly ball outs to the left side. So did Travis Jankowski. Taylor Ward struck out swinging. Jack Lopez struck out swinging. Eric Wagaman hit into a 5-3 groundout.
Inning #9:
Roansy Contreras came in to pitch the ninth inning. He served up a homer to Dustin Harris. 6-0 Rangers. Ezequiel Duran singled. A wild pitch advanced Duran to second base. Marcus Semien walked. Josh Smith doubled making it 8-0. Wyatt Langford grounded out. Woo hoo! Thankfully Carson Fulmer came in to pitch. He got a couple of outs to stop the bleeding. Kevin Pillar flied out to left field. Brandon Drury popped out to the catcher. Matt Thaiss walked. Gustavo Campero reached on an error by Marcus Semien. A wild pitch advanced the Angels runners to second and third. Niko Kavadas struck out swinging to strand those runners.
The Angels got shut out 8-0.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
