Angels rookie's over-reliance on key pitch helped secure his first win vs. Nationals

Jack Kochanowicz got his first major league win on Sunday as the Los Angeles Angels were able to avoid a sweep in our nation's capital. The Halos survived a late-game surge from the Washington Nationals and won the game by a final of 6-4.

Kochanowicz was big reason why the Angels took home the W on Sunday afternoon, and the rookie didn't even give up his first run until the bottom of the eighth inning. Manager Ron Washington tried to squeeze another frame out of Kochanowicz, but after a leadoff home run and single threatened the Angels' lead, LA's skipper made the move to the bullpen.

Kochanowicz was pulled after going 7 1/3 innings and the rookie's over-reliance on his sinker was rather intriguing. According to Baseball Savant, 69 of Kochanowicz's 93 pitches, or 74%, were sinkers. That's a huge uptick from his previous two major league starts, and may well have been the key to his success.

Angels RHP Jack Kochanowicz relied on his sinker to get the win vs. Nats

Heading into Sunday's game, Kochanowicz didn't have the best résumé. The 23-year-old made two starts last month and allowed 12 runs on 14 hits over just seven innings of work. The opposition was tattooing Kochanowicz to the tune of a 1.343 OPS. Kochanowicz's ERA after those first two starts was a ghastly 14.14.

But if you look back on Kochanowicz's previous two outings, you'll see that his reliance on that sinker was nowhere near what it was on Sunday. His first start on July 11 saw him go to sinker just 57% of the time, with a mixture of curveballs and changeups as well. The right-hander went to his bread and butter even less in his second outing, with the sinker making up only 49% of his pitches. Of his 74 pitches on July 20, 36 were sinkers, while the combination of breaking balls and off-speed pitches totaled 38.

It would appear, however, that Kochanowicz switched it up during his start this Sunday. And while the sinker doesn't offer a lot of swings and misses, Kochanowicz was able to get a lot of ground balls. It wasn't until Alex Call's double in the sixth inning that a base hit even came off the bat at over 95 mph.

Kochanowicz is still a work in progress, but the Angels saw what the young hurler is capable of when his sinker is on point. Perhaps his success on Sunday will open the door for more opportunities over the final month-plus of the 2024 season.

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