ANAHEIM - For one night, the Angels looked like a team that had found its footing in two places at once.
Walbert Ureña kept dealing, the lineup finally piled up enough clean contact to matter, and the result was a 10-1 rout of the Yankees on Monday night. Ureña’s seven innings of one-run ball were the kind of outing that can carry a team through a rough stretch all by itself: eight strikeouts, no walks, and only one real blemish.
That lone mistake came on a sinker left over the middle to Spencer Jones, who turned it into a solo homer. Everything else was controlled, efficient work.
Ureña had only a little trouble in the first inning, when a pair of two-strike hits and a passed ball put runners on second and third with two outs, but he escaped by striking out Trent Grisham. After that, he kept New York off the bases until the seventh.
Even then, the inning never really got away from him. He gave up a leadoff single, then fielded a grounder from Grisham and started a double play at second. After another single, he finished the job by punching out Jones to end his night.
Coming off an outing in which he walked five, Ureña was sharp from the start. He got his first pitch over for strikes to 76% of the hitters he faced and threw strikes at a 72% clip overall.
"I've been working on my glove side," Ureña said. "Last time, I was opening too much. I've been working in my bullpen, my training program, and every time now, I stay on the line and I'm making pitches."
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki didn’t hide how impressive he thought the performance was, especially against a lineup like the one across the diamond.
"When you face the Yankees and the Phillies and the Red Sox, you face teams like that, there's always a little bit of a sense of anxiety," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. "When you watch (Walbert) from pitch one, it was zero anxiety. I think it was the first 11 guys, 11-for-11, first-pitch strikes or something crazy like that.
"That's the sign of an ace."
The numbers keep backing that up. Ureña’s ERA dropped to 2.85, which is second-lowest among rookie pitchers in the American League behind left-hander Parker Messick.
It also stands as the second-best ERA in Angels history for a pitcher in his first major league season with at least 20 starts. Only Rickey Clark’s 2.59 in 1967 is better.
He also moved past Jim Abbott for the second-most strikeouts by an Angels pitcher in a first big league season. Ureña now has 120 strikeouts and needs 25 more to catch Bo Belinsky for the franchise lead.
"He's not going to change because he has a bad start or whatever," Suzuki said. "This guy's going to be the same guy every single day. I think for longevity reasons, in this game especially, it's going to serve him well."
The offense, meanwhile, gave Ureña the kind of support the Angels haven’t had much of lately. The lineup had been stuck in a miserable month-long slump, but Monday brought 12 hits and double-digit runs.
Suzuki pointed to a simpler approach at the plate.
"The big hits was a byproduct of not patience, but like aggressiveness in the zone, and not trying to do too much," Suzuki said. "Not trying to hit a homer every time. I thought it was just quality at-bats."
Vaughn Grissom led the way with three hits in five trips and four RBIs, and four Angels finished with multi-hit games. It was also only the second time this season the Angels scored 10 runs without hitting a home run.
"We had guys on a bunch, and a lot of times we got those guys in and took advantage of some of their mistakes," Grissom said.
In Other News...
Angels Fans Suddenly Have One Huge Reason To Watch This Ownership Shift
A major ownership change has given Angels fans something new to monitor as Arte Moreno announced the transfer of the franchise to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. Moreno framed the move as a step toward a better long-term fit, pointing to Kroenkes experience and track record across multiple sports properties as reasons he believes the company is the right next steward for the club.
Stan Kroenke also signaled he is eager to take on the challenge, saying he looks forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization. For a fan base that has spent years waiting for stability and a clear direction, the shift is significant because it opens the door to a different vision at the top, even if the full shape of that future is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Angels Front Office Shakeup Puts Bigger Pressure On Their Rebuild
The Angels front office is changing shape again, this time with Michael Lord and Matt Swanson moving up to assistant general manager roles in a broader restructuring under interim GM John Mozeliak. The moves come alongside a round of staffing changes that included the firing of several scouts and the decision not to renew the contract of special assistant Ray Montgomery, another sign the club is trying to tighten the way it evaluates and develops talent.
Mozeliak has stressed the need to better align player acquisition with the development pipeline, a message that fits the state of a rebuild that still needs clearer direction. For now, the Angels have not moved to install a permanent general manager, leaving the organization in a period of transition where the next few personnel decisions may matter as much as anything happening on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Angels Rookie Just Gave Fans A New Reason To Believe In This Rotation
Walbert Urena keeps giving the Angels something they have not had enough of lately: a young starter who can handle a big lineup and keep the game under control. Against the Yankees, the rookie right-hander worked six innings, struck out seven and allowed just one run, a sharp showing from a pitcher who was not viewed as one of the organizations top prospects entering the season. For a rotation that has been searching for stability, it was the kind of outing that can make a manager and a fan base look twice.
The contrast was just as notable on the other side, where Yankees rookie Elmer Rodriguez, a more celebrated pitching prospect, ran into trouble early and was lifted in the fourth inning after a heavy workload and too many free passes. For the Angels, the larger question now is whether Urenas latest turn was a one-night spark or the start of something more meaningful, because performances like that tend to change the conversation around a staff fast. [Read more 🡒]