Angels score early and pitchers hang on for tight victory over Rangers

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Aug 12, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM — After scoring three runs in third inning, a relative explosion for the Angels these days, the hitters called it a night, putting the pressure on the pitching staff to hold the margin for the rest of the game.

They did it.

Starter Ryan Johnson and four relievers shut down the Texas Rangers in a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night, snapping the team’s three-game losing streak despite an offense that remains frigid.

“They all stepped up,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said of the pitchers. “They all did the job tonight and it was it was awesome to see.”

They had to because the hitters gave them no margin for error. The Angels (46-74) have now failed to exceed four runs in 16 consecutive games. Their five victories in that span have been like this one.

At least the three pitching coaches who were fired on Tuesday no longer have to go through that stress. Even though Mike Maddux and his staff were dismissed, it’s the hitters who have struggled the most lately.

The Angels came into the game hitting .215 with a .608 OPS in their previous 24 games. They had hit .141 with runners in scoring position during that stretch. After starting Tuesday’s game with an 0-for-2 effort in the first inning, they finally strung some good at-bats together in the third.

Wade Meckler singled and advanced to second base on a good bunt from Tyler Heineman. Zach Neto dumped a single into left, driving in Meckler. Mike Trout was hit by a pitch.

Neto and Trout moved up on a double steal.

Nolan Schanuel hit a fly ball to drive in one, and then Vaughn Grissom doubled to drive in the other, putting the Angels ahead 3-1.

“It was nice to string some together obviously,” Suzuki said. “It was nice to get some stuff going and get some stuff moving. It was a fun inning that’s for sure.”

The Angels did not get another run into scoring position the rest of the night, but the pitchers got the job done, ending with Samy Natera Jr. picking up a save.

Johnson got off to a rough start but pulled it together and allowed only one run through 4⅓ innings.

In his last outing, Johnson said he was too tentative in the first inning, when he walked five batters in the first three innings. He took some solace in the fact that he pitched better in the last two innings when he was pounding the strike zone.

So this time he came out with strikes on the first two pitches. He then got a little too much of the plate on an 0-and-2 pitch, and Joc Pederson hit a homer to center field.

Johnson then walked a hitter, and it took him 32 pitches to get the first three outs.

After that, though, he retired nine of 10 hitters in the next three innings, with five strikeouts. He gave up a single in the fifth and then got pulled before facing the lefties at the top of the Rangers’ order for the third time.

“I think it was just staying true to the the game plan and what I wanted to do,” Johnson said. “I felt like I filled up the zone good. (Pederson) hit a good pitch so you know that’s credit to him.”

Left-hander Tayler Saucedo got out of the fifth and started the sixth. Right-hander Luke Murphy got into the seventh, and then José Fermin finished the seventh and pitched the eighth.