Ray Montgomery hopes that because the climate continues to warmth up, so will the bats of the Los Angeles Angels.
The second half of the season received off to a superb begin for the Angels on Friday, and so they’ll look to writer one other stable effort on Saturday once they proceed their highway collection with the Philadelphia Phillies.
After closing the primary half of the season by taking two of three towards the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Angels hit three residence runs in Friday’s 6-5 victory in Philadelphia.
Taylor Ward hit a go-ahead, two-run homer within the seventh, following earlier blasts by Jo Adell and Jorge Soler.
“I used to be simply going to say that (Ward) must play within the humidity,” mentioned Montgomery, the Angels’ interim supervisor. “The man likes to play when it is heat. Once more, three residence runs tonight — Soler, him and Jo retains on doing it. That is form of our MO. At any given time, any of our guys can try this.”
The Phillies additionally hit three residence runs, together with two by Bryce Harper. The 2-time MVP had beforehand managed just one homer in 11 video games since coming back from the disabled listing in late June.
“He appears nice,” Philadelphia supervisor Rob Thomson mentioned. “He is utilizing the (entire) subject and it appears like he is seeing the ball rather well proper now.”
Kyle Schwarber added a solo homer for Philadelphia, carrying over the momentum from Tuesday’s All-Star Sport, the place the veteran designated hitter took residence MVP honors after homering on all three of his swings through the game-deciding residence run derby.
“He does wonderful issues,” Thomson mentioned. “After that All-Star Sport and developing and first swing he hits the ball out of the ballpark, all people was like, ‘That is Schwarbs!'”
Schwarber and Harper will purpose for extra productive swings towards left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (4-6, 3.11 ERA), who was chosen to this week’s All-Star Sport however elected to not pitch within the contest. Kikuchi’s most up-to-date outing got here final Saturday towards the Diamondbacks, when he allowed three runs and 6 hits over 5 2/3 innings to earn the victory.
Kikuchi has made one profession begin towards Philadelphia — in August 2023 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. He gave up one run and 4 hits in six innings however didn’t get a choice within the 2-1 victory.
The Phillies will flip to veteran righty Taijuan Walker (3-5, 3.55), who has 9 begins and 11 aid appearances this season. He final pitched July 8 towards the San Francisco Giants, when he began and yielded one run and two hits over 4 innings.
“I believe it may be very tough,” Thomson mentioned about Walker going forwards and backwards between the rotation and the bullpen. “I believe it is dependent upon the man. I believe it may be very tough. In Walker’s case, I believe he is dealt with it very professionally. He is been a fantastic staff man all through this entire factor.”
All 9 of Walker’s earlier appearances towards the Angels have come as a starter. In these outings, he has posted a 5-3 file with a 5.06 ERA.
–Subject Stage Media
