Mickey Moniak, Zach Neto homer as Angels end Rangers’ winning streak

Mickey Moniak and Zach Neto homered and drove in three runs as the Angels ended the Texas Rangers’ season-best five-game winning streak with a 7-2 victory Wednesday night.

Neto finished a triple short of the cycle for the Angels, who had lost four in a row and eight of nine. He combined with Moniak to give the Angels five hits and three runs from the bottom two batters in the lineup.

Moniak, the No. 9 hitter, launched a three-run homer to make it 4-0 in the second inning. Neto added an RBI double in the third and a two-run homer in the eighth, his 12th of the year.

“It’s a long process and a long season. Things haven’t gone the way I wanted them to up until this point. That’s in the past,” said Moniak, who is hitting .198 with five homers. “The only thing I can do is focus on my work and getting better every day and getting back to the baseball player I know I can be.”

Angels starter Griffin Canning pitched well until the fifth, when he gave up a two-run homer to Leody Taveras with no outs. After getting Travis Jankowski to ground out, Canning loaded the bases on back-to-back singles and a walk before being pulled.

Right-hander Hans Crouse struck out rookie Wyatt Langford and slugger Adolis García to end the inning. Crouse (1-0) then worked a hitless sixth and earned his first major league win.

“It feels good,” said Crouse, who grew up in nearby Dana Point. “Really cool feeling for me that it came at home, growing up here. Having my grandpa, wife and son in the stands makes it even more special. I was just trying to do my job and minimize damage. I was honestly looking to get a double-play ball and get out of the inning, but picking up the two strikeouts and throwing a scoreless inning after that was pretty dang cool. It’s a special moment for me, one I’ll never forget.”

García, last year’s AL Championship Series MVP, also popped up against José Marte with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh.

Earlier in the day, García was added to the home run derby to represent the host Rangers during All-Star festivities next week. García is the only one of the eight hitters in the event who wasn’t selected to the All-Star Game.

Texas starter Michael Lorenzen (5-5) gave up five runs and five hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out three.

“He was just out of sync,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “His release point was off there a little bit. He was battling that and didn’t finish up strong. He walked a couple of guys and hit a batter. He’ll tell you that’s a recipe for something bad to happen. Offensively, we got guys on and we did some good things, we just didn’t get the hit.”

Before the game, Angels star Mike Trout and his wife, Jessica, announced on social media that they had a baby boy, Jordy Michael, on June 30. It’s the couple’s second child. Trout has played just 29 games this season because of a torn meniscus but is targeting the end of July for a return.

Up next

Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz makes his major league debut Thursday night against Seattle. The 6-foot-7 Kochanowicz was a third-round draft pick in 2019.