ANAHEIM — Yusei Kikuchi overcome a rough first inning that he didn’t deserve.
The left-hander was victimized by an error and a missed call by the plate umpire in a two-run, 31-pitch first inning, but he still turned in one of his best outings of the year to lead the Angels to a 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon.
After giving up the unearned runs in the first, Kikuchi didn’t give up anything else through seven innings, striking out 12.
Jo Adell homered – his 10th of June and 17th of the season – and drove in the tie-breaking run with a fifth-inning single. Travis d’Arnaud also homered and drove in a second run.
The Angels (40-40) completed the sweep of the Red Sox to get back to .500 for the first time since May 23. They have won 12 of their last 19 games.
Kikuchi picked up this victory on a day that began ominously.
With one out in the first, shortstop Scott Kingery booted a hard ground ball hit right at him. Kingery was starting because the Angels were waiting to get news of Zach Neto’s condition after he hurt his shoulder the night before.
Kikuchi still got the second out of the inning, and he seemed to have the third when his 1-and-2 pitch to Wilyer Abreu appeared to catch the outside corner. Kikuchi and Abreu each took a couple of steps toward their respective dugouts when plate ump Alan Porter called it a ball.
Kikuchi went on to walk Abreu, loading the bases, and then he gave up a two-run single to Trevor Story.
Kikuchi needed 14 more pitches after the missed third strike to get out of the inning. With the bullpen tapped from three straight close games, it was vital for Kikuchi to pull himself together and get deep into the game.
He did.
Kikuchi struck out the side on 13 pitches in the second, starting him on his way to a strong finish. He retired 18 of 19 hitters after the first inning, getting through seven innings on 105 pitches.
Kikuchi walked only one. After walking 5.2 hitters per nine innings in his first 13 starts, he’s walked a total of five in his last four.
Halfway through the first season of a three-year, $63 million deal, Kikuchi has a 2.79 ERA in 96⅔ innings.
The biggest offensive contributor of the day for the Angels was Adell, who has hit .298 with 11 homers and an OPS of 1.064 since he began using a small leg lift late last month.
Adell’s fourth-inning homer cut the two-run deficit in half. D’Arnaud followed with a homer. An inning later, they had consecutive two-out RBI singles. Mike Trout had a two-out RBI single in the sixth.
Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn pitched the final two innings to pick up the save, allowing closer Kenley Jansen a break after he had pitched the previous two days.
More to come on this story.