A quick peek at the box score from the Los Angeles Angels’ Thursday night loss to the Texas Rangers would say that starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz suffered his fourth defeat of the season. He gave up all three runs scored by the Rangers, courtesy of a three-run bomb by Adolis Garcia in the first inning.
But a deeper look shows what Kochanowicz took away from Thursday’s effort, and that is the fact that he tossed six innings while only giving up those first three runs, earning him a quality start. It’s his fifth straight of such starts, dating back to Aug. 11 when he went 7.2 innings against the Washington Nationals.
And in a season like the one the Angels are having, it’s arguable that efforts like that are even more important than the win or the loss at the end of the game. Kochanowicz spoke about his takeaway from the start and what he feels he needs to work on moving forward, according to Dave Sessions of MLB.com:
“It’s a quality outing … obviously I would’ve liked to go out there and not have to find it after the first,” Kochanowicz said. “I was happy I was able to string it together after that. It’s a good ‘grind’ outing, to control it after that first inning. But I want to go out there and be able to have it right away.”
Angels manager Ron Washington also was proud of the way Kochanowicz battled through mistakes and through not having one of his go-to pitches, a sign of growth for a young pitcher.
“He did a great job,” Washington said. “He got some pitches up in that first inning — the main mistake he made was to García — and after that, he settled in. He didn’t have his best sinker tonight, but he grew tonight, because he learned to battle without his best stuff. That’s what you have to do when things are not working the way you want them to work.”
For the Angels, these are the victories that matter. As it shows them the type of players they have in their organization as they figure out what they want to do in 2025. If they like Kochanowicz, and see him as someone worth keeping around next season, perhaps they can trade some players ahead of him on the healthy depth chart and lean further into a rebuild.
Perhaps Kochanowicz himself has earned some interest league-wide if the Angels decide not to keep him on the Major League roster. Regardless, it’s moments like these that the Angels are desperately searching for in the final month of the regular season.
Angels’ Caden Dana makes history in debut
With the Angels out of any sort of contending picture for the final month of the season, they felt it was time to give Caden Dana, the team’s No. 1 prospect, a shot in the big leagues. And it didn’t take even one full start for fans to see why Dana has become such a highly-touted prospect over the last two years.
Dana needed 12 pitches to get through a 1-2-3 first frame, including a strikeout of Cal Raleigh. Dana pitched six innings in total, allowing two earned runs on two hits and four walks with four punch-outs. The Angels bullpen held a 3-2 lead firm after his exit, allowing Dana to secure the win in his debut and make some history.
The 20-year-old starter became the youngest player in Angels franchise history to win his debut.