OC Register: Chase Silseth leads Angels to sweep of Yankees, 4th victory in 5 games

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM — Hours before the Angels’ 7-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Wednesday afternoon, Manager Phil Nevin described one of the reasons he remains so hopeful about this season.

The Angels’ collapse was quick. They lost 11 of 13 games earlier this month to dramatically change the narrative of their season.

“Just as quick as we’ve gotten to the position we’re in, we can get back (in the race) by playing well,” Nevin said.

The Angels then came out and finished off a sweep of the Yankees, their fourth victory in five games and their first sweep of the Yankees since July 2009.

Chase Silseth – making a spot start in his return to the big leagues after six weeks in Triple-A – was at times electric, and the Angels supported him with two-run homers from Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo in the first two innings.

The Angels (49-48) swept a series for the first time since June 6-8 against the Chicago Cubs. They went 4-2 in their first two series out of the break, against the Houston Astros and Yankees. Next, they have six consecutive games against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers.

That could provide them an opportunity to build some momentum and make up some ground before next weekend’s series in Toronto. The Blue Jays are currently tied with the Astros for the final American League wild-card spot, leading the Angels by 4½ games.

The Angels have 10 games left before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Between now and then, every loss will increase the chatter about trading Shohei Ohtani.

Poor pitching is mostly responsible for the Angels being in his hole, so performances like the one Silseth delivered are necessary for the team to feel good about its trajectory.

Silseth gave up one run, on a Giancarlo Stanton homer, in 5⅔ innings, striking out 10 and walking two.

Although the final line was good, some of the peripherals were outstanding.

Silseth induced 14 whiffs and he got 24 called strikes. That accounted for 44.7% of his pitches, the third-highest percentage for any Angels pitcher (minimum 50 pitches) since tracking began in 2015. The only pitcher to exceed that was Shohei Ohtani, who did it twice last year.

Silseth got the Yankees to whiff on 10 of their 15 swings against his slider, perhaps because he seems to have adjusted it since he was in the majors earlier this season.

His slider on Wednesday averaged 80.6 mph, down from 84.3 previously this year, while his two fastballs remained around 94-95 mph, which gave the hitters a greater separation to handle.

Silseth also seems to have scrapped the cutter he was throwing earlier this season, relying instead on the slider and fastballs.

Silseth had a 6-0 lead after the third inning, but the game still got interesting.

He gave up a homer in the sixth and then reliever José Soriano allowed a second run. Franchy Cordero hit a homer against Matt Moore in the eighth to cut the deficit to 6-3.

The Angels had closer Carlos Estévez warming for his fourth game in five days, but he sat down after Ward’s RBI double padded the lead to 7-3. Aaron Loup worked the ninth to finish the game.

More to come on this story.

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[warped]

Neto plays, angels win

[TroutField]

[79CAAman]

It doesn’t hurt that Moniak is in the lineup. Dude is reminding the baseball world why he was the number one player taken in the draft. 

[Warfarin]

10 minutes ago, 79CAAman said:

It doesn’t hurt that Moniak is in the lineup. Dude is reminding the baseball world why he was the number one player taken in the draft. 

Moniak's development is a promising sign for our organization in terms of player development.  He languished with the Phillies for years and looked like a failed pick.  I don't know what changes this organization helped him make, but it has made a huge difference.  His performance is not sustainable (evidenced by his BABIP), but I think he can be a rather good (significant) role player.

Also, the improvements the organization helped Silseth make with his repertoire and pitch utilization is notable as well too.  There are a lot of good signs with the direction this organization is heading in.