After completing a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Los Angeles Angels rallied late to earn a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers that extended their winning streak to a season-high five games.
With the win, the Angels improved to 19-14 on the season and pulled into a tie with the Rangers for first place in the American League West standings.
The Rangers have gotten off to their best start in years under first-year manager Bruce Bochy, who came out of a brief retirement after leading the San Francisco Giants to three World Series championships in 13 seasons at the helm.
Angels manager Phil Nevin is plenty familiar with Bochy as he played seven seasons under him with the San Diego Padres, and later was part of his coaching staff in San Francisco during the 2017 campaign.
Nevin recalled his longtime friendship with Bochy and believes he wouldn’t be where he is today without his leadership, via Doug Padilla of the Southern California News Group:
“I had some good years under him and I feel like I owe him a lot,” Nevin said Friday. “We’ve become good friends since my retirement and obviously we both do the same job now. But it will always be somebody I look up to, 100 percent.”
Bochy, who is in his 26th overall season as an MLB manager, has impacted many players and coaches beyond Nevin throughout his journey. After his initial retirement following the 2019 season, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke highly of him and believed he would manage again.
Angels’ Griffin Canning feels ‘pretty good’ through four starts
The Angels welcomed Griffin Canning back to the mound this season after missing nearly two years due to a lingering back injury. The right-hander has had mixed results thus far, going 2-0 with a 5.31 ERA through four starts. However, L.A. is undefeated in games which he has pitched.
Canning noted he wants to improve his numbers but feels good both physically and mentally, which is encouraging considering how long his recovery was.
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