Angels' Ryan Johnson has best start of young career in victory over Orioles

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Jun 24, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM — Perhaps Ryan Johnson has finally found his role.

One of the Angels’ top pitching prospects, Johnson has been bounced between the bullpen and the rotation for most of his two professional seasons, without much success in either role.

On Tuesday night, Johnson had his best major league moment to date, pitching six scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Johnson allowed just one single, in the sixth inning. He walked one and struck out eight.

Johnson brought a 12.83 ERA to the mound. In his previous two starts, he’d allowed 11 runs. In his last outing, though, something clearly began to click. The A’s tagged him for five runs in the first inning last Thursday, before Johnson added four scoreless innings.

He picked that up on Tuesday. Johnson retired the first seven hitters of the game before walking Tyler O’Neill. He then retired nine in a row, until Jeremiah Jackson lined a clean single into center. Three pitches later, Johnson got a double play ball to end his night.

The Orioles whiffed at 15 pitches, including half of their swings at his splitter.

Johnson’s repertoire was exceptionally balanced. He threw 27 cutters, 22 sinkers, 21 splitters and 20 sweepers.

If Johnson, 23, has unlocked something, it would be a welcome development for a team that has been struggling to fill the last two spots in the rotation.

After right-handers José Soriano and Walbert Ureña and left-hander Reid Detmers, it’s been a struggle. Right-handers Jack Kochanowicz and Grayson Rodriguez and left-hander Yusei Kikuchi have all had turns in the rotation, but all are currently on the injured list.

For now, Johnson and Sam Aldegheri are in those spots, and they are still trying to establish themselves.

All the starters are benefitting from an Angels offense that has been mostly good for the last month. After they were held to one run on Monday, the Angels (33-48) got back on track with an eight-hit performance on Tuesday.

Nolan Schanuel got things started with a two-run homer in the first, one of his two hits.

Schanuel had had multiple hits in three straight games. He was slowed for most of the first two months of the season by a sore left ankle. Since returning from a brief stint on the injured list, Schanuel has hit .286 with a .864 OPS.

In the fifth, the Angels scored three more runs, starting the inning with consecutive hits from José Siri, Zach Neto, Vaughn Grissom and Schanuel. Jorge Soler added a sacrifice fly.

Neto had two hits, including a double. He also struck out for the 16th consecutive game, adding to his major league-leading total of 116. At the season’s exact midpoint, Neto is on pace to break the major league record of 223, set by Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009.