Zach Neto, Angels continue to be one of the best 1st inning teams in baseball

It sure seems like the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox are incapable of playing normal games. As the Angels host the Red Sox for their second matchup of the year, they just continued a trend that they have established often over the course of the 2025 season...especially against the Red Sox...and especially with regards to Zach Neto.

Zach Neto, Angels continue to be one of the best 1st inning teams in baseball

After Jack Kochanowicz allowed three runs to the Red Sox in the top of the 1st inning, Neto stepped up to the plate in his typical leadoff spot. He immediately drilled his 6th leadoff home run of the season off of Walker Buehler, which tied the superstar shortstop with Brian Downing in 1982 and Tony Phillips in 1995 for the second-most lead off bombs in Angels history. Oh, and it's June.

This season, there are 39 batters in baseball with 20 or more plate appearances to lead off games. Neto's .761 SLG, 6 home runs and 6 RBIs all rank second of those 39 -- his SLG when leading off games only trails Minnesota's Byron Buxton's .852, and his home runs and RBIs are both tied with New York's Francisco Lindor and trail LAD's Shohei Ohtani. Neto's 8 extra base hits are also tied for second in baseball, and trail Ohtani and Lindor's 11. Lastly, Neto's 35 total bases are tied for third in baseball when leading off games. Please vote this man to the All-Star Game.

After Neto's leadoff solo home run, the Angels went on to score four more runs against the Red Sox. For some reason, and it might have to do with Boston's subpar starting pitching outside of Garrett Crochet, the Angels demolish the Sox in the 1st inning of their games. In total, the Angels have scored 15 1st inning runs vs. the Sox in their four games. The Angels' three games where they have scored the most 1st inning runs all came vs. Boston.

The Angels are incredible in MLB rankings in the 1st inning of games, in part due to their production vs. Boston. Their 24 home runs are tied with the Yankees for the most in baseball. Their 53 runs scored are tied for 5th in MLB. The Angels are an interesting combination of fantastic in the 1st inning, but also clutch down the stretch in games. They are quite the peculiar team, these Angels.

Don't look at the Angels' pitching stats in the 1st inning of games this season. Just look at the lineup's production, particularly Neto.

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