A silver lining presents itself amid Angels' de-facto ace's struggles

For the third time this season, the Angels trotted out their "ace", Yusei Kikuchi, to the mound and quickly saw things unravel. Despite a market-setting three-year $63 million contract, Kikuchi has been far from advertised and the panic meter over his poor start to the season continues to rise.

In the first inning against Tampa, all of Kikuchi's worst attributes came to the forefront. After giving up a pair of singles, his control alluded him as he issued a 2-out walk to a struggling Danny Jansen. He loaded the bases before being bitten by his other prominent bugaboo, the long ball, as he served up a grand slam to utility man Jose Caballero.

For the Japanese-born southpaw, the issues of walks and homers have plagued the majority of his career, save for 60 innings of 2.70 ERA ball he twirled down the stretch last year in Houston. It's appearing more and more likely that his Houston stretch was a mirage.

The Angels' rotation was atrocious last season, sporting a 4.97 ERA that ranked 28th in the bigs. It was questionable all along whether or not Kikuchi, who entered the year with a 4.57 career ERA, would truly be the guy to right the ship atop the Halos' rotation. While his struggles seem like a death knell to the team's chances, they instead highlight a new core strength.

The 2025 Angels possess a resiliency that was not present in recent years

Over the past few seasons, the Angels would have immediately rolled over after giving up a first-inning grand slam. The bats would go silent, and the pitching would continue to implode. You could forgive any Angels fan for shouting, "Here we go again," as the ball left the yard.

However, time and time again during the initial weeks of the season, the club has responded to adversity. Several dramatic come-from-behind wins are already on the books, often sparked by clutch contributions from the Angels' young core.

In this matchup against the Rays, it was a combination of veterans and youngsters coming together to fight back before ultimately falling short. Despite being left off many of the national media's lists of early MVP candidates, Kyren Paris ignited the charge with a homer in the second while also providing the Angels last bit of resistance with another dinger in the eighth.

He was joined by veterans Taylor Ward and Jorge Soler, who each contributed solo shots in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. Those veteran bats heating up will be crucial to the Angels' ultimate success.

It ended up not being enough as the Rays tacked on another run in the seventh with a cheap one to right off of Reid Detmers, which ultimately put the game out of reach.

As disappointed as you may be with how Kikuchi's season has started, the performance of the young hitters on the roster should buoy your spirits. More importantly, the entire ball club is undergoing a culture shift.

While they came up short in this affair, gone are the days of giving away at bats and rolling over the moment things get tough. Wednesday night's game was just another example of a team coming together, united in their belief in each other, and developing a winning spirit that shows no quit.

For a club that has spent the last several years quitting the moment it gets tough, and that has long employed the quitter in chief, Anthony Rendon, having a roster filled with players willing to fight until the last out is a welcome sign as the team slowly marches back towards relevance.

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