Josh Lowe's grand slam leads Angels to series victory over Athletics

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Jun 28, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — It didn’t take long for Josh Lowe to shake off the pain.

Two pitches after his foul ball bounced up and hit him in … a very tender area, Lowe blasted a second-inning grand slam, leading the Angels to a 4-1 victory over the Athletics on Sunday.

“That’s not really fun, hitting it off that area, you know?,” Lowe said. “But just kind of taking a deep breath throughout all that, and assessing what had happened during the at-bat.”

Lowe said he used his extra time to remind himself that he was looking for a ball up, so he could at least get a sacrifice fly. He did even better, launching the first grand slam of his career.

Those were the only runs the Angels needed to continue their encouraging stretch. Ever since the A’s took three of four from the Angels in May, including back-to-back extra-inning games, the Angels (36-49) have been playing consistently solid baseball. They are 19-15 since that series, a .558 winning percentage.

During that span, they have scored 185 runs, which is the second most in the majors.

“The biggest thing is the guys are coming here every day prepared,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “They’re enjoying themselves, obviously, which is what you want. And and they’re pulling for each other. They’re playing together. They’re doing the the things to help the team win. It’s not going to be perfect all the time. But it’s about guys picking each other up. Pitchers picking each other up. Really, when you’re a winning team, that’s what happens. They’ve been doing that this past month or so and the results have been good.”

The latest victory was sparked by players who had been dispatched to Triple-A earlier this season.

Lowe was sent down in May — just after that A’s series, actually — with a .184 average. At Salt Lake, he cleared his head and improved his approach at the plate, earning a ticket back to the big leagues. In four games since he’s been up, he’s 5 for 12.

“The swings have been more aggressive, stronger,” Suzuki said. “I think it’s the confidence thing, right? He went down. He did his work. He worked his butt off and got to a good place where he wants to be. When he came back and got the opportunity, he’s performed. Couldn’t be happier for him. What an amazing guy and hard worker. Great teammate. It’s awesome.”

Starter Sam Aldegheri, who spent most of the first two months in the minors, got going back in the right direction after consecutive poor starts.

Aldegheri gave up one run in five innings, the best of his five career major league starts. He gave up five hits and a walk, and he struck out four.

In the fifth, he gave up back-to-back hits to the bottom hitters in the order, putting him in a dicey spot as the hitters at the top got their third look at him. Aldegheri retired all three, with a run scoring on a sacrifice fly.

“I worked on some stuff on my mechanics during the the last week,” Aldegheri said. “Today I needed a start to redeem myself after last two and I did it.”

After Aldegheri was out, the Angels brought in right-hander José Fermin, who had a two-week stint at Triple-A earlier this month. Fermin pitched two scoreless innings. He has not allowed a run in eight innings since coming back from the minors.

Left-hander Samy Natera Jr., who had been in Triple-A for the first two months of the season, retired A’s slugger Nick Kurtz on a fly ball to strand two runners in the eighth. Kurtz was getting the day off, but he came up to pinch-hit, representing the tying run with two outs. Suzuki responded by taking out Ryan Zeferjahn and bringing in Natera.

The A’s had two lefties due in the ninth, so Suzuki stuck with Natera. He had some trouble finding the strike zone with the first two hitters, but he settled down and got through the inning without much trouble, picking up his first career save.

“Just trusting what I got,” Natera said. “I’d never been in that spot before. It’s new for me. But learn from it. Got comfortable later on.”

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