Kevin Pillar hit a three-run double, and Jack Kochanowicz recorded his first major league win to propel the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-4 win over the host Washington Nationals on Sunday.
Kochanowicz (1-2) threw 7 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on six hits and a walk and fanned two batters.
In the fourth inning, Los Angeles’ Brandon Drury led off with a walk. Mickey Moniak hits a ground ball that slipped past first baseman Juan Yepez and into right field for a single, which moved Drury to third base.
Jo Adell tapped a grounder to third, but Jose Tena mishandled fielding the ball for an error. Drury scored on the error to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. Tena left the game with a bloody right thumb was replaced by Ildemaro Vargas.
A walk to the Angels’ Matt Thaiss followed to load the bases with no outs. Michael Stefanic grounded into a double play, but Moniak scored to bump the advantage to 2-0.
Zach Neto walked to load the bases once again for Los Angeles. Pillar proceeded to slap the ball down the left-field line for a double. Adell, Neto and Schanuel scored on Pillar’s bases-clearing double to give the Angels the 5-0 tilt.
The Angels tacked on another run in the seventh. Taylor Ward flew out to center field, then Drury walked. Moniak struck out swinging for the second out, but Adell and Thaiss were issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. Stefanic also walked, which scored Drury to increase lead to 6-0.
The Nationals’ Jacob Young hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to cut it to 6-1. Nasim Nunez reached on an infield single, then jogged to second on a wild pitch. Luis Garcia, Jr. singled up the middle to bring home Nunez for a four-run deficit.
With two outs, Juan Yepez and James Wood both walked. Mike Baumann, who came in relief of Kochanowicz, got Vargas to line out to left to end the inning.
Washington loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against Ben Joyce.
Alex Call reached on an infield single that scored one run and Garcia was walked to force in another. Yepez then grounded into a double play to end the game.
Washington’s MacKenzie Gore (7-10) pitched four innings and allowed five unearned runs on five hits and six walks and recorded two strikeouts.
–Field Level Media