ANAHEIM — Thanks to Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo, the Angels could enjoy Jack Kochanowicz’s return to the big leagues.
Ward and Rengifo each hit home runs in the sixth inning, snapping a tie and leading the Angels to a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night.
Kochanowicz, who returned from a brief stint in Triple-A, did not allow an earned run in 4⅔ innings, but he left in a tie game because of two unearned runs.
The Angels (52-55) still came back to win, the first time since the All-Star break that they have won consecutive games.
The Angels now have just two games left before the trade deadline. If they are sellers, as expected, one of the players who will draw the most interest would be Ward. Ward said he has no idea what’s going to happen, but he reiterated his desire.
“All I know is I want to stay here,” Ward said. “I want to win with these boys.”
Ward’s homer, which gave the Angels a 4-3 lead, was his 25th of the season. That equaled the career high he set last season. Ward has a .904 OPS and five homers in July.
“I think there’s a lot more in the tank,” Ward said.
Ward hit the Angels’ second homer of the game against Rangers ace Jacob deGrom, who gave up more than three runs for the first time since April 5. Kevin Newman got the scoring started with a two-run homer in the third.
The Angels also scored three runs in five innings against deGrom in a victory on July 7. Consecutive strong games against a pitcher of deGrom’s caliber suggests that the Angels might have picked up something in his delivery that helped them identify what pitches were coming.
Ward did nothing to dispel that suspicion when he answered with a smile when asked about the Angels’ success against deGrom.
“I don’t know,” Ward said. “Not sure. It’s just random.”
After deGrom was out of the game, the Angels tacked a fifth run on to his line with Rengifo’s two-run homer against reliever Jacob Webb, giving the Angels a 6-3 lead.
Left-hander Reid Detmers, who has been one of the Angels’ best relievers, was getting the night off because of his recent workload, so other pitchers had to chip in to maneuver the final three innings with a lead. Left-hander José Quijada started the seventh and could only record one out, before right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn escaped the jam. Zeferjahn gave up a run on two bloop hits in the eighth.
Closer Kenley Jansen got the final out of the eighth and three in the ninth, ending a game that started with an encouraging start from Kochanowicz.
Kochanowicz had a 6.03 ERA through 19 starts when the Angels sent him down to Triple-A less than three weeks ago. In his only start in the minors, Kochanowicz gave up one unearned run in five innings.
The notable number from that game was that Kochanowicz didn’t throw any four-seam fastballs, instead repeating his sinker over and over to try to regain the feel for what had been his best pitch.
The Angels chose to test him again in the major leagues against the same team that tagged him for eight runs in 2⅔ innings in the start that punched his ticket to Triple-A earlier this month.
This time around, Kochanowicz was clearly better. He induced nine ground balls and he struck out three. He gave up just one hit, a fifth-inning triple.
“Felt great,” Kochanowicz said. “Definitely wasn’t perfect, but feel like I’m in a much better spot now and just keeping the ball out of the middle of the plate.”
He threw both his four-seam fastball and his sinker. Kochanowicz said his sinker was back to being what he wanted “for the most part. It’s definitely a work in progress. Never like the walks. It’s definitely in a much better spot.”
Kochanowicz issued four unintentional walks, and interim manager Ray Montgomery added two more by intentionally walking Corey Seager twice.
The second time preceded an unintentional walk to Marcus Semien in the fifth inning, loading the bases. Although right-hander Connor Brogdon was warming in the bullpen, the Angels gave Kochanowicz a chance to face Adolis Garcia. For a moment, it looked like he’d gotten out of the inning, when he got Garcia to hit a soft pop-up to shallow right field.
Gustavo Campero was jogging in as he put up his glove for the routine catch. The ball squirted out of his glove and two runs scored.
Campero at least bounced back from that with two hits and two stolen bases. He also scored from first on a double.
“That’s really hard,” Montgomery said. “When you’re a young guy, you just get recalled, and you’re trying to play a little bit and get your feet under you. They happen. They’re not supposed to happen. But I do like the way he responded. He bounced back. And he was aggressive on the bases, and we told him to make sure he stayed that way.”
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