CLEVELAND — The relief of the Angels’ 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians – with Mike Trout back in the lineup – was tempered by another injury.
Right-hander Robert Stephenson left Friday’s game after just three pitches. The initial diagnosis was right bicep discomfort. It’s a disturbing development for a pitcher who just two days earlier had returned from a 13-month Tommy John surgery rehab.
Stephenson threw 12 pitches in a dominating perfect inning on Wednesday, giving the Angels visions of a significant boost to the bullpen. He took the mound in the seventh with a three-run lead on Friday. He didn’t even get through the first hitter before wincing on an 83 mph cutter. The pitch averaged 87 mph on Wednesday.
While the Angels wait to get more information on Stephenson, they could do so amid the celebration of the end of their five-game losing streak.
Trout, who had been out for a month with a bone bruise in his left knee, returned to the lineup as the DH, going 1 for 5 with two strikeouts.
The single was a blooper. The other two balls he put in play were a 107 mph liner and a 97 mph one-hopper, but both were outs. On the bases, the only real test for Trout was a slide into second base on Jo Adell’s infield hit.
That was one of three hits for Adell, including an RBI single in the second and a double in the eighth.
Jorge Soler hit a homer – the 199th of his career – and drove in a run with a single.
The Angels totaled 13 hits, which was four more than they had in any of the games of the losing streak. They scored a total of five runs in those losses.
On the mound, right-hander José Soriano worked six innings to get the Angels most of the way home.
When Soriano faced the Guardians earlier this season in Anaheim, he threw 14 sliders, an unusually high number for him. He got seven whiffs on 10 swings, but he also gave up a homer when he hung one.
If the Guardians were looking for the slider this time, Soriano didn’t oblige. He threw just one among his 96 pitches.
Soriano threw mostly sinkers, as usual, and the hitters mostly pounded them into the ground, as usual. Soriano got 14 of his 18 outs on 11 ground balls, including three double plays. Soriano leads the majors with 17 double plays induced. Teammate Jack Kochanowicz is second with 12.
Left-hander Reid Detmers, who took over for Stephenson, worked a perfect seventh. Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn pitched the eighth. Closer Kenley Jansen allowed the lone run on a hit and two walks in the ninth.
More to come on this story.