WEST SACRAMENTO — The Angels have become an offensive juggernaut in the past week.
They bashed their way to a sixth consecutive victory, beating the Athletics, 10-5, on Wednesday night.
The Angels’ longest winning streak since they won six in a row last season has been fueled by an offense that has scored 7.3 runs per game, including 15 homers. They’ve hit .292 with a .945 OPS during the winning streak.
“It’s what we know we’re capable of doing,” said Logan O’Hoppe, who hit two homers. “So I speak for a lot of guys in here, we’re not surprised to see it. It’s stuff that we’ve been practicing, talking about. And I’m happy that we’re riding the wave right now where it’s all coming together.”
O’Hoppe started the scoring with a career-long 470-foot blast that was the second-longest homer hit by anyone in the majors this season. O’Hoppe, who is now tied for the Angels lead with 13 homers, has hit four during the winning streak.
The Angels (23-25) also got homers from Zach Neto (his eighth) and Jo Adell (his sixth). O’Hoppe and Adell hit back-to-back homers in the fourth, the first time this season the Angels accomplished that.
Taylor Ward didn’t hit any homers, but he continued his sizzling streak with a double and a triple among his three hits. Ward has three homers during the winning streak, and he has at least one extra-base hit in his last seven games.
Even Jorge Soler, who had been one of the coldest hitters on the team, had three hits, including two doubles.
Soler said Angels hitting coaches recently helped him identify a problem with his front leg in his swing.
“In the beginning, I wasn’t hitting the ball hard, and since three days ago to now, I’ve been working with the hitting coaches,” Soler said through an interpreter. “We’re doing a couple drills and and they told me what I was doing wrong mechanically, and that’s the problems we had.”
Soler had been one of the cold veterans the Angels needed to join the young players – O’Hoppe and Neto – who had been more consistent.
“They’ve been swinging the bat,” Manager Ron Washington said. “We needed it. Like I said, Taylor Ward came alive, and now Jorge starting to swing the bat. (Luis) Rengifo looks like he’s starting to swing the bat. And that’s the three guys we needed. And (injured) Mike (Trout) to go along with those kids. Those kids have been showing up every day, getting it done. So it’s nice that now we’ve got everybody functioning.”
It’s been a dramatic turnaround for a team that did not score six runs a single time during a 21-game stretch from April 11 to May 4. In the 15 games since, they’ve done it seven times.
While plenty of Angels players had good offensive performances in their 14-hit outburst on Wednesday, O’Hoppe was the headliner.
O’Hoppe had a homer and two hits on Tuesday night, but he was still sour after the game because he had struck out in his final two at-bats of the night. He took out that frustration on a first-pitch changeup from left-hander J.P. Sears on Wednesday, blasting it into a net on the roof of the visiting clubhouse beyond the center field fence.
The only longer homer in the majors this season belonged to Trout, who hit a 484-foot shot last month.
O’Hoppe’s homer in the fourth inning went 431 feet. It was the third multi-homer game of his career.
“He’s a strong kid,” Washington said. “Right now he’s seeing the ball well, and when they’re making mistakes, he’s not missing it.”
Adell’s homer padded the lead to 6-3, but the Angels still had to work their way through another 18 outs on a night when starter Jack Kochanowicz was not sharp.
Kochanowicz loaded the bases on a three walks in the first inning, but escaped with no damage. In the second, he hung a changeup that Lawrence Butler drilled over the center field fence, for a three-run homer.
Kochanowicz also gave up a homer to Nick Kurtz in the fifth, followed by his fifth walk of the game. That knocked him out three outs shy of qualifying for a victory.
Kochanowicz normally induces plenty of ground balls, but this time he got only three in four innings.
Left-hander Brock Burke picked up two outs, and then Shaun Anderson entered. He retired Shea Langeliers on a fly ball and then got through the sixth. Anderson gave up a homer to Kurtz in the seventh.
At tht point, the Angels were clinging to a one-run lead. Right-hander Hector Neris escaped a two-on, no-out jam with the lead. By the time Ryan Zeferjahn got to the mound in the eighth, the Angels had added a couple insurance runs, and they added two more before Connor Brogdon pitched the bottom of the ninth.
The offense not only bailed out Kochanowicz, but helped them get by on a night when closer Kenley Jansen was unavailable. He had pitched four of the previous five days.
“The boys picked me up today, for sure,” Kochanowicz said. “They’re smashing the ball right now. I’ve never seen anything like it, honestly. It’s awesome.”