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

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on May 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — 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. In the bottom of the inning, he hit a three-run homer on the first pitch he saw from Jacob deGrom.

The Angels also got two homers from Zach Neto, who 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 52/3 innings. The Angels led by two runs when he left the game, but the offense kept adding on and the bullpen did the job.

It was an overall good night for the Angels, which made it tough 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 in the previous games. 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 dour – 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 Mike 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.

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

The Angels didn’t get the easy victory they would have liked, though.

In his second start since missing nearly two years with 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.

Clinging to a 6-4 lead, the Angels then made some nice defensive plays and continued to add runs.

In the seventh, Neto made a perfect 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 hurt while putting the tag on Jung, leaving the game. There was no immediate word on his injury.

Just after Peraza’s homer in the bottom of the seventh put the Angels up, 7-5, 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.

The Angels then added some insurance on Neto’s homer, a Trout double and a Nolan Schanuel RBI single.