Los Angeles Angels get timely hitting, and excellent bullpen work in taking down Yanks and Sox.

The Los Angeles Angels went into the month of June reeling as reigning AL MVP Mike Trout was lost for 6 weeks due to a torn ligament in his thumb. They had to come together fast as they played  what may be their toughest stretch of games.

After taking two of three from the Houston Astros and New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Angels faced an even bigger test this past week.  The Angels had to go into New York and Boston to play two three game series against the best two teams in the AL East on hallowed ground. The Angels proved they were up to the task.

When the Angels left Anaheim last Sunday evening they knew they had a daunting task ahead of them as they travelled to Yankee Stadium and then followed it up by going to their personal house of Horrors “Fenway Park”.  They were also doing this with another pitcher Matt Shoemaker had for the DL as well as closer Bud Norris.

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However, as they have done so many times this season in the face of adversity the Angels rallied together and fought back.  In the first game of the trip the Angels sent rookie Parker Bridwell to the mound and he proved to be up to the challenge pitching five innings of two-hit ball giving only two runs and left with a 3-2 lead.

Although the Blake Parker gave up a solo home run to Gary Sanchez to tie the game at three, the Angels kept charging as the hottest Angels hitter Cameron Broke the tie with a solo homer off of Tyler Clippard as part of a three-run rally that gave the Angels a 6-3 lead. The bullpen did the rest as Cam Bedrosian, Keynan Middleton, and David Hernandez shut the Yankees over the final three innings of a 8-3 victory.

This would become a theme of this road trip as the bullpen would play a key part in all four of the Angels victories on the trip. The Angels now have the third best bullpen in baseball with a 2.75 ERA. However it has not been by the guys who were expected to be the main arms in the 2017 Angels pen.  Instead has been the supporting cast.

Names like Yusmeiro Petit (2.31 ERA, 1 save), Blake Parker (2.12 ERA, 1 save), David Hernandez (2.38 ERA, 1 save), and Keynan Middleton (3.27 ERA). None of the four were expected to be on the roster going into Spring Training and yet they have all been stellar so far this season.  Throw in closer Bud Norris who is currently on the DL with11 saves and a 2.43 ERA and you have the key cogs in the late innings for the Angels.

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The Angels did get Huston Street and Cam Bedrosian back from the DL. Bedrosian and Street were supposed to be key pieces in the Angels pen along with Andrew Bailey, but they all have spent most of the 2017 season on the DL. This only makes the Angels bullpen even deeper which could spell trouble for the rest of the league in the second half of thee season.

The Angels dropped game two to the Yankees as Ricky Nolasco lost his fifth straight start 8-4 to New York as they couldn’t get enough hitting to overcome another poor performance by Nolasco.

The bullpen had one of their signature moments of the season in the rubber game of the series against New York.  Jesse Chavez was knocked around for five runs on seven hits and lasted only four innings.  However the Angels bullpen lead by Petit held the Yankees to one hit and no runs over the final five innings striking out seven Yankee batters.

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The Angels offense rallied from a 5-1 deficit led by Albert Pujols, Kole Calhoun, and Andrelton Simmons each drove in two runs to allow the Angels to rally for nine unanswered runs and take the series with a 10-5 victory. Not to be lost in the shuffle Cameron Maybin and Cliff Pennington each scored three runs. Maybin has been on fire the last month since being inserted into the lead-off spot almost 100 points since May 15th.

So the Angels took their road show to Boston and had a rare bad start from rookie Alex Meyer who had lowered his ERA from 7.62 in mid-May to 3.52 going into last Friday’s game. Meyer never seemed to get comfortable giving up five runs in 3.1 innings walking two batters and throwing three wild pitches.  This time the bullpen could not keep the Angels in the game as both rookie Eduardo Paredes and Jose Alvarez gave up two runs each to help Boston take a 9-4 victory.

Again the Angels bounced back on Saturday behind another surprise in 2017 J.C. Ramirez.  The Angels picked up Ramirez off of waivers from the Cincinnati Reds this time last season and he was used as a reliever in 2016. However, the Angels decided to stretch Ramirez out and try to convert him into a starter.

The experiment didn’t seem to be going well as Ramirez struggled in the Spring and even in his first two spot starts for the injured Garrett Richards. However, Ramirez has bounced back with seven quality starts since late April and he came out on Saturday and pitched a gem holding the Red Sox to one run on four hits in six innings striking out four and walking none.

Offensively the Angels had five different players with RBI’s scoring six runs to give the Angels a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Cam Bedrosian was brought in to close it down, but failed to do so allowing two runs and left with the bases loaded and two outs.  In came Parker and squashed Boston’s comeback by striking out Chris Young to end the game and get his first big league save.

In the final game of the series the Angels turned to rookie Parker Bridwell and he was huge going 6.2 innings giving up only two runs on seven hits and Kaleb Cowart, who was just called up from Triple-A came through with two RBI’s and Ben Revere had his first three hit game with the Angels to provide just enough run support for Bridwell. Yusmeiro Petit closed it out with two scoreless innings allowing only one hit to get his first save of the season.

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The Angels took the rubber game of the series with Boston and did something the Angels have not done in years, which is win back-to-back series in New York and Boston with a 4-2 victory.

The road does not get any easier as the Angels come back to California and face SOCAL rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers who have been the hottest team in baseball winning 10 in a row.  Will the Angels be able to continue to knock off the league elite teams we will see.  Just know one thing this team will keep fighting and never give up no matter what the situation is.