ANAHEIM — In an era when we have become accustomed to players shooting quickly to the majors, especially with the Angels, what Caden Dana did on Sunday was still exceptional.
As soon as the 20-year-old right-hander threw his first pitch, he became youngest Angels pitcher to start a game in 51 years.
Dana gave up two runs in six innings to set the Angels on their way to a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Dana became the youngest player to pitch for the Angels since Francisco Rodriguez in 2002. He’s the youngest to start a game since Frank Tanana in 1973.
Fans responded to the opportunity to see the organization’s top pitching prospect. The Angels announced that they sold 39,370 tickets — an unusually large crowd for a September game when they’re out of the race — to see Dana make his big league debut.
Dana struck out four and walked four.
He allowed a solo homer to Luke Raley on a fastball over the middle in the second inning. In the third, Dana left a fastball over the outer half of the plate and Josh Rojas punched it into the left field corner for a double. Rojas went to third on a grounder and scored on a fly ball.
After that, though, Dana did not give up another hit. He got a double play to help him work around a walk in the fourth. He struck out Robles swinging through a cutter to strand two in the fifth.
Dana walked No. 3 hitter Cal Raleigh with one out in the sixth, but then he struck out Randy Arozarena looking at a cutter that nipped the inside corner and he got Jorge Polanco on a fly ball.
Dana walked off the mound after his 95th pitch with a 3-2 lead, and the bullpen had nine outs to maneuver to get him a victory. Ryan Miller, Brock Burke and Ben Joyce each handled an inning to close out the one-run game.
They had no margin for error because all the Angels runs came on two swings.
Related Articles
Back with the Angels, Reid Detmers says he’s been ‘ready to go for a long time’
Mickey Moniak’s 2nd homer of the night is a walk-off in Angels’ win
Angels to recall Reid Detmers after 3 months in Triple-A
Angels prospect Sam Aldegheri endures rough debut in loss to Mariners
Angels prospect Caden Dana stays present with major-league debut on deck
Taylor Ward led off the first inning with his 19th homer of the season, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games.
Ward also doubled in the fifth. Zach Neto was then hit by a pitch. Nolan Schanuel hit a fly ball to deep center field. Ward tagged up and went to third, and Neto correctly read the throw and was able to get to second.
That proved to be significant, because Anthony Rendon then hit a line drive off the glove of diving shortstop Leo Rivas. Both runners were able to score, giving the Angels a 3-2 lead.
More to come on this story.