Tag Archives: Garrett Richards

Five things to take from Angels’ 4-1 victory over Diamondbacks

Posted on by
Reply

Huston Street

Huston Street/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Angels

 

– This was a big victory in as much as had the Angels lost, they would have fallen under the .500 mark and would have been 5 1/2 games behind front-running Houston in the AL West. With the win, the Angels are 33-32 and still 4 1/2 games out ahead of Wednesday’s games.

– This was the first game with the new batting order that saw Albert Pujols bat cleanup for the first time since 2010. Mike Trout, typically a No. 2 hitter, was moved to third with previous cleanup hitter Kole Calhoun batting second. The results were mixed. The Angels did not get a leadoff batter on the entire game. Calhoun went 0-for-4, Trout 1-for-3 with a single and walk and Pujols 1-for-3 with a 2-run home run.

– Left-fielder Matt Joyce was back in the lineup after being benched for two days. He’s still struggling. Joyce went 0-for-2 and was replaced by Daniel Robertson, who went 1-for-2. Joyce is now batting .181.

– Perhaps the best news from this game was the second consecutive solid outing by starting and winning pitcher Garrett Richards. He tossed seven innings and allowed just four hits and one unearned run while striking out four and walking three. After having his ERA rise to 4.14 after getting ripped in New York for six earned runs in two-thirds of an inning on June 6, Richards’ ERA is down to 3.59. He’s 7-4 and leads the staff in wins.

– Huston Street picked up his 20th save in 22 opportunities. Street blew saves May 6 against Seattle and May 7 against Houston. In the latter game, he gave up three earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. His ERA was 3.86 at that point, not good for a closer. He since has converted 11 save opportunities in succession and lowered his ERA to 2.33.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email

Five things to take from Angels’ 6-2 victory over Tampa Bay

Posted on by
Reply

Garrett Richards

Garrett Richards/Photo courtesy of Los Angels Angels

 

– Albert Pujols’ 17th home run of the season tied him for the team lead with Mike Trout, who also homered in this one. For Pujols, it was No. 537 for his career and moved him into 16th-place all-time; he had been tied with Mickey Mantle. Next up for Pujols is Mike Schmidt, who is No. 15 with 548.

– Kyle Kubitza’s game-tying RBI single in the seventh inning ignited a three-run inning that allowed the Angels to take a 4-2 lead. That Kubitza’s clutch hit came the day after a mixed-results major-league debut was a sign that he has the wherewithal to get past the bad things that happen.

– When you don’t play a lot, you can raise your batting average in a hurry. Such was the case with Efren Navarro, who had three hits in this game to raise his average from .227 to .308.

– Nice outing by Garrett Richards. Much-needed, too, as he had seen his ERA rise from 3.12 to 4.14 over his previous two starts. Richards allowed just two runs on four hits in seven innings in this one while striking out seven and walking just one. He lowered his ERA to 3.97 in the process while earning his team-high sixth victory against four defeats.

– The Angels may only be 30-30, but this victory helped them gain a half game on idle first-place Houston and a full game on second-place Texas. The Angels are now only 3 1/2 games behind the Astros and just a game behind the Rangers.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email

Angels back to a three-man bench, for now.

Posted on by
Reply

Tommy Hanson

Tommy Hanson starts for the Angels tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Angels are carrying 13 pitchers and only three position players on their bench. The unusual configuration began 10 days ago, when pitcher Tommy Hanson was activated from the disabled list and infielder Brendan Harris was designated for assignment.

The Angels carried one extra pitcher for parts of the first half too, particularly when the bullpen was being overused by manager Mike Scioscia‘s standards. It was out of necessity — the Angels’ starting pitchers rarely lasted beyond six innings — and that’s the case again.
Continue reading “Angels back to a three-man bench, for now.” »

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email

Garrett Richards will start for the Angels on Saturday in Oakland.

Posted on by
Reply
Garrett Richards

Garrett Richards will make his fifth start of the season Saturday against the Oakland A’s. (Getty Images)

Garrett Richards will start Saturday for the Angels against the Oakland A’s. Richards will take the place of right-hander Joe Blanton (2-13), who leads the major leagues in losses.

Blanton was 0-3 with an 8.84 earned-run average in his last four starts. Manager Mike Scioscia praised Blanton’s effort Tuesday but acknowledged the reality of the situation.

“He obviously doesn’t have everything together like he needs to,” Scioscia said. “He’s working hard with [pitching coach] Mike [Butcher] to find the consistency that he needs to repeat pitches, and it’s been a struggle for Joe.”

Richards has started four games this season, all in April, and relieved another 30. As a starter the 25-year-old from Riverside is 1-2 with a 5.54 earned-run average despite limiting opponents to a .229 batting average, .282 on-base percentage and .365 slugging percentage.

As a reliever, he’s been hit harder (.281/.332/.380) but has a lower ERA (4.10) in a much larger sample size.

Richards started nine games for the Angels last year (3-2, 4.42 ERA) before being demoted to the bullpen in August.

It remains to be seen how or if Blanton would fit into the team’s pitching staff with Richards in the rotation.

The Angels enter the four-game weekend series in a critical position. They began Wednesday 11 games behind the A’s for first place in the American League West, before beating the Minnesota Twins 1-0 to salvage the final game of their three-game series.

The Angels have 63 regular-season games remaining and 10 are against the A’s.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email