This story was originally published by Dead Spin
The visiting Los Angeles Angels hope the first major league hit by Niko Kavadas, a three-run homer, provides momentum against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.
The homer by Kavadas, a blast to left with two outs in the ninth against Tommy Nance on Thursday, was too late to prevent a 5-3 loss in the opener of a four-game series.
However, it was an encouraging development for the Angels, who have lost eight of 10.
“Definitely a big relief,” Kavadas said.
“We hadn’t scored a run in 17 innings and then we finally broke through,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “Hopefully that gives us a boost for tomorrow.”
The Angels lost 3-0 to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday in the decisive game of a three-game series that opened their 10-game road trip.
Another encouraging development Thursday came from right-hander Griffin Canning, who allowed two hits and struck out six over six scoreless relief innings.
It was Canning’s first relief outing this season after 25 starts. Because Canning had been struggling in recent outings, the Angels opened with Brock Burke, who was followed by Mike Baumann in Toronto’s five-run second.
Toronto had five scoreless relief innings from left-hander Ryan Yarbrough. The Blue Jays used Ryan Burr as an opener to give their rotation an extra day of rest.
The Blue Jays continued to have their way with the Angels. Toronto outscored them 19-5 in a three-game sweep at Anaheim last week.
Ernie Clement keyed Toronto’s second inning with a two-run homer. It was his 10th homer of the season, and he has homered in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. Over his past 25 games, he is batting .307 (31-for-101) with five doubles, a triple, four home runs and 18 RBIs.
“I finally think I’m turning the corner a little bit and I’m impacting the ball more,” Clement said. “I feel more comfortable at the plate. I’m just seeing it a little bit better, so I can get my ‘A’ swing off instead of just trying to hit the ball. My approach is a little more refined now and I can go up there with a plan.
“When I’m not feeling good, sometimes I just fall back into trying to hit the ball, instead of having a real plan and going in to execute it.”
His home run on Thursday came from an eye-high fastball.
“I probably shouldn’t be swinging at pitches like that,” a smiling Clement said.
“I’ve never seen that before,” manager John Schneider said. “I basically just said ‘Holy (bleep)’ with everyone else in the dugout. That’s just elite bat-to-ball skills. It’s kind of a blessing and a curse and he’s swinging a really hot bat right now. That was pretty ridiculous.”
The Blue Jays have homered in 11 straight games, their longest such streak since a 12-game streak Aug. 28 to Sept. 9, 2021.
Toronto is scheduled to start right-hander Chris Bassitt (9-12, 4.34 ERA) on Friday. Bassitt, who is looking to rebound from back-to-back losses to the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics, is 7-3 with a 3.39 ERA in 13 career games (11 starts) against the Angels.
Right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (1-3, 6.53) is slated to start for Los Angeles. He is coming off a tough 3-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves in which he allowed two runs in six innings. The rookie has never faced Toronto.
–Field Level Media
