Angels put together a solid night of offense, defense in victory over Rangers

ANAHEIM — Apparently Wade Meckler is the answer to the Angels’ problems.

An Anaheim native, Meckler made his Angels debut on Friday night, and he made an immediate impact with his glove and his bat to spark a 9-6 victory over the Texas Rangers.

The left fielder slammed into the wall catching a foul ball to end the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the inning, he hit a three-run homer on the first pitch he saw from two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom.

“It was pretty cool,” Meckler said. “Just trying to make a play on defense, but getting your first homer off deGrom, it’s pretty hard to top that.”

Meckler, an Esperanza High product who grew up idolizing Angels star Mike Trout, said it was “surreal” to have Trout waiting at the plate for him on his first homer.

The Angels also got two homers from Zach Neto, including one to lead off the first inning. He also made a clutch throw to save a run. Oswald Peraza hit a homer and made a diving stop to save a run.

Starter Grayson Rodriguez picked up the victory, allowing four runs in 5⅔ innings. The Angels led by two runs when he left the game, but the offense kept adding on and the bullpen did the job.

“Wade Meckler set the tone for the game today,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously Net leading us off with a homer was was great. And anytime you can get a lead-off homer is awesome. But Wade hitting that ball off deGrom, that’s like what got me going. Put it in four-wheel drive and let’s go.”

It was an overall good night for the Angels, which made it tougher for the fans to gain as much traction with the “sell the team” chants as in the previous four games. The crowd of 32,488 drowned them out more than when the ballpark was mostly empty. A sprinkling of fans throughout the ballpark wore black, part of a planned protest aimed at owner Arte Moreno.

While the overall state of the Angels remains bleak – their 18-34 record is the worst in the majors – on this night the fans could enjoy a rare break from the misery.

And it started with Meckler.

The 26-year-old was claimed on waivers from the San Francisco Giants over the winter, and he was eventually in spring training on a minor-league deal. He had been having a nice season in Double-A. He started in left field on Friday in place of Josh Lowe, whose season-long struggles earned him a demotion to Triple-A.

Meckler ingratiated himself to the fans by putting his body on the line to catch a foul ball in the first inning.

In the bottom of the first, the Angels got things going on the first pitch, when Neto belted a homer. DeGrom threw Neto a first-pitch fastball over the middle and Neto, who often swings at the first pitch, hammered it.

Later in the inning, after walks to Trout and Jorge Soler, Meckler came up with two outs. DeGrom’s first pitch to him was a 98 mph fastball over the middle, and he yanked it into the right field seats, for a three-run homer.

“I think it was pretty special,” Neto said. “First one for a hometown kid here. It’s a dream come true for him, I bet. We look forward to seeing more out of him.”

In the third, Logan O’Hoppe delivered a two-out, two-run single to pad the lead to 6-0.

“Net leading that inning off with a home run and then Mek coming in with a three-run homer really set the tone for the game,” Manager Kurt Suzuki said. “I felt throughout, the guys were having good at-bats. We were getting guys on. There was a couple times we didn’t get them in, but we were constantly getting guys in position to score. And I think that was a huge thing.”

Sustaining offense has been difficult for the Angels lately. They strike out too much and they have trouble getting hits with runners in scoring position. On Friday, though, they struck out only three times. Although they hit four homers, they also drove in three runs with singles. Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit.

“I think the big thing was the consistency of everybody’s at-bats,” Suzuki said. “Everybody contributed. Everybody did at least one thing good to help the team win tonight. When you do that, all those good things happen. It’s fun to watch.”

The defense was also good, beyond Meckler’s catch in the first. In the seventh, Neto made a strong throw to the plate to nail Josh Jung, who was trying to score from first base on a double with what would have been the tying run. O’Hoppe was removed from the game as a precaution because of concussion testing, but he said afterward he expects to be fine.

Just after Peraza’s homer in the bottom of the seventh gave the Angels a 7-5 lead, he made a sensational play to end the top of the eighth. Peraza dove to his right and then made a flip to second in one motion.

With Kirby Yates, Ryan Zeferjahn and Chase Silseth all unavailable after pitching each of the previous two games, the Angels’ bullpen preserved the victory with Brent Suter, Sam Bachman and Mitch Farris getting the job done.

That helped Rodriguez earn his first victory since 2024, before nearly two full years of injuries.

Rodriguez began the game with three scoreless innings. In the fourth, though, he gave up three runs, including a homer to Brandon Nimmo. Rodriguez gave up one more in the sixth.

Rodriguez threw 97 pitches, including 62 strikes. He struck out five and walked two. His fastball averaged 96 mph.

“Better than the last one,” said Rodriguez, who allowed seven runs to the Dodgers in his previous start. “Definitely took a step in the right direction. Still a lot of things to work on though. Felt like I was finding my delivery at times. I don’t even want to look at the first pitch strikes (12 of 25). I don’t even want to look at that stat. I know that needs to be better, but we’re headed in the right direction.”