ANAHEIM — The Angels continued to raise the stakes on Thursday night, turning a first-time start, three home runs and two stolen bases into a 5-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Davis Daniel’s first appearance of the season was his first ever turn in the rotation as he filled up the strike zone while helping the Angels match a season high with their fourth consecutive victory.
Daniel, who had just three relief appearances last season to his credit, went eight scoreless innings with no walks and eight strikeouts. He became just the third Angels pitcher to go eight innings this season, after Tyler Anderson and Jose Soriano, and the first to do it without allowing a run.
Of his 99 pitches, Daniel threw 73 strikes, barely touching 93 mph in the process. Daniel averaged 91.7 mph on his 47 fastballs.
An offense still missing a slew of veterans was not at a loss for power as Miguel Sano, Willie Calhoun and Luis Rengifo all hit home runs off Tigers veteran Jack Flaherty, who took his lumps in his Southern California homecoming.
A Harvard-Westlake High product, Flaherty lasted 5⅔ innings and gave up five runs, his most since an April 7 start against the Oakland A’s. Daniel stole a page out of the book of Flaherty, who averaged 93.5 mph on his fastball.
The Angels even challenged themselves on the base paths with two more stolen bases, getting one each from Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto. The Angels now have 69 stolen bases this season after starting the day 10th in baseball in that category and fifth in the American League.
The 27-year-old Davis gave up just three hits through the first seven innings and breezed through the eighth even after giving up a leadoff single to Wenceel Perez. He retired 10 consecutive batters at one point as the Tigers were shut out for the ninth time.
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Ben Joyce provided a stark contrast in the ninth inning, blazing through the Tigers for his first career save.
Four of the Angels’ five runs came on home runs. Sano was first, hitting his second of the season with a solo shot in the second inning. Calhoun added his own solo shot in the fourth, which was also his second of the season.
Schanuel had an RBI single in the fifth inning, one batter before Rengifo hit a two-run shot, his fifth of the season.
Joyce threw four of his nine pitches over 100 mph in his perfect ninth inning. His first save came in his 21st career appearance.
More to come on this story.