WEST SACRAMENTO — The Angels have become an offensive juggernaut in the past week.
They bashed their way to a sixth consecutive victory, beating the Athletics, 10-5, on Wednesday night.
The Angels’ longest winning streak since they won six in a row last season has been fueled by an offense that has scored 7.3 runs per game, including 15 homers.
Logan O’Hoppe hit two home runs, including a career-long 470-foot blast that was the second-longest homer hit by anyone in the majors this season. O’Hoppe, who is now tied for the Angels lead with 13 homers, has hit four homers during the winning streak.
The Angels (23-25) also got homers from Zach Neto (his eighth) and Jo Adell (his sixth). O’Hoppe and Adell hit back-to-back homers in the fourth, the first time this season the Angels accomplished that.
Taylor Ward didn’t hit any homers, but he continued his sizzling streak with a double and a triple among his three hits. Ward has three homers during the winning streak, and he has at least one extra-base hit in his last seven games.
Even Jorge Soler, who had been one of the coldest hitters on the team, had three hits, including two doubles.
It’s been a dramatic turnaround for a team that did not score six runs a single time during a 21-game stretch from April 11 to May 4. In the 15 games since, they’ve done it seven times.
While plenty of Angels players had good offensive performances in their 14-hit outburst on Wednesday, O’Hoppe was the headliner.
O’Hoppe had a homer and two hits on Tuesday night, but he was still sour after the game because he had struck out in his final two at-bats of the night. He took out that frustration on a first-pitch changeup from left-hander J.P. Sears on Wednesday, blasting it into a net on the roof of the visiting clubhouse beyond the center field fence.
The only longer homer in the majors this season belonged to injured Angels star Mike Trout, who hit a 484-foot shot last month.
O’Hoppe’s homer in the fourth inning went 431 feet. It was the third multi-homer game of his career.
Adell’s homer padded the lead to 6-3, but the Angels still had to work their way through another 18 outs on a night when starter Jack Kochanowicz was not sharp.
Kochanowicz loaded the bases on a three walks in the first inning, but escaped with no damage. In the second, he hung a changeup that Lawrence Butler drilled over the center field fence, for a three-run homer.
Kochanowicz also gave up a homer to Nick Kurtz in the fifth, followed by his fifth walk of the game. That knocked him out three outs shy of qualifying for a victory.
Kochanowicz normally induces plenty of ground balls, but this time he induced only three in four innings.
Left-hander Brock Burke picked up two outs, and then Shaun Anderson entered. He retired Shea Langeliers on a fly ball and then got through the sixth. Anderson gave up a homer to Kurtz in the seventh.
Right-hander Hector Neris escaped a two-on, no-out jam with a one-run lead. By the time Ryan Zeferjahn got to the mound in the eighth, the Angels had added a couple insurance runs, and they added two more before Connor Brogdon pitched the bottom of the ninth.
More to come on this story.
Originally Published:
