ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Zach Neto homered twice, Wade Meckler and Oswald Peraza also went deep and the Los Angeles Angels pulled away to beat the Texas Rangers 9-6 on Friday night.
Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez (1-1) gave up four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two for his first victory since July 31, 2024.
Texas trailed 6-4 in the seventh when Angels reliever Brent Suter walked pinch-hitter Andrew McCutcheon with two outs and gave up a single to Josh Jung.
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki summoned left-hander Tayler Saucedo to face Brandon Nimmo, who drove an RBI double to right-center to make it 6-5, with Jung being thrown out at the plate.
Peraza’s one-out homer in the seventh pushed the Angels’ lead to 7-5. The second baseman then made a spectacular play with two on to end the top of the eighth, diving to his right to snag Sam Haggerty’s one-hop smash and flipping to Neto at the bag for an inning-ending forceout.
Neto’s leadoff homer in eighth, Mike Trout’s double and Nolan Schanuel’s RBI single pushed the lead to 9-5, helping the Angels absorb Rangers catcher Danny Jansen’s solo homer in the ninth.
Meckler, who played at nearby Anaheim Esperanza High School, had a memorable Angels debut, racing toward the left-field line and making a sliding catch of Nimmo’s fly ball before crashing into the wall in foul territory to end the top of the first.
Neto homered off the first pitch of the game from Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (3-4), sending a 97-mph fastball over the left-wall for his 12th career leadoff homer. Trout and Jorge Soler walked, and Meckler lined a first-pitch fastball over the right-field wall for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead.
The last player to homer in his first at-bat with the Angels was Mike Napoli off Detroit’s Justin Verlander on May 4, 2006.
O’Hoppe’s two-out, two-run single made it 6-0 in the third. Texas cut the deficit to 6-3 in the fourth when Nimmo homered, Jake Burger walked, Justin Foscue singled and Evan Carter tripled for two runs. Burger doubled and scored on Foscue’s RBI single to pull the Rangers to within 6-4 in the sixth.
Up next
RHP Nathan Eovaldi (5-4, 3.62 ERA) was set to start for the Rangers against RHP Walbert Ureña (1-4, 2.70 ERA) on Saturday night.
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