 ended his six-start winless skid despite laboring for long stretches of his six innings. The left-hander needed 70 pitches to get through the first three innings alone, but still managed to keep the Rangers scoreless while walking three and striking out six.Nomar Mazara homered in the eighth inning and Shin-Soo Choo had two doubles while reaching base in his 20th consecutive game for the last-place Rangers, who went 3-4 on their road trip.One day after the Angels' inconsistent bullpen wasted a stellar start by Garrett Richards in a 10-inning loss, three Los Angeles relievers nearly did it again.After Noe Ramirez gave up Mazara's homer in the eighth, Justin Anderson got two outs in the ninth before walking three consecutive Rangers - all three on borderline pitches that didn't persuade home plate umpire Chris Conroy.But Anderson finally got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to pop out, ending his second save.Doug Fister (1-6) provided another solid, innings-eating start for the Rangers, giving up four hits and three runs in six innings.The Angels went up 2-0 in the second inning when Shohei Ohtani and Zack Cozart doubled and Valbuena drove them home. After yielding those three consecutive hits, Fister retired the next 13 Angels in order.Upton interrupted Fister's roll with a solo homer to right. The shot was his 12th of the season, but the veteran slugger's first in 16 games since May 15.Mazara got the Rangers on the board in the eighth with his 14th homer.TROUT CAUGHTMike Trout went 0 for 3, ending his six-game hitting streak. The center fielder also appeared to be shaken up after running into the wall while catching Delino DeShields' long drive in the fifth inning. Trout stood with his hands on his knees for a long moment, but stayed in the game.OHTANI'S TURNOhtani began the Angels' rally in the second inning when he singled for just his second hit since May 24. He is scheduled to pitch Wednesday against Kansas City on his usual once-a-week mound schedule. The Angels gave extra rest time to their two-way rookie before his last start in Detroit.TRAINER'S ROOMRangers: LHP Martin Perez threw another bullpen session. He is on the disabled list with nerve inflammation in his right arm.Angels: Cozart returned from a four-game absence with a strained left forearm. The Angels' regular third baseman played shortstop, his former position in Cincinnati, to give a rest day to Andrelton Simmons, who had missed only two previous games all season.UP NEXTRangers: After a day off, Matt Moore (1-5, 7.85 ERA) looks for a turnaround start when Texas opens a two-game home series with Oakland.Angels: Nick Tropeano (3-3, 3.80 ERA) takes the Big A mound Monday in the opener of a three-game series with Kansas City. The right-hander has capably filled a gap in Los Angeles' rotation, and he will attempt to win three straight starts for the first time in his big-league career.---More baseball: www.apnews.com/tags/MLBbaseball)
Angels look to get going at home vs. Rangers 10m ago• 3 min read If the Los Angeles Angels fail to build on their strong start to the season and miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year, they might look back on their poor results at home.After blowing a ninth-inning lead on Saturday night against the visiting Texas Rangers, the Angels are 13-18 at Angel Stadium heading into their series finale on Sunday.The Angels (31-28) are one of seven teams in the American League with a winning record, but the only one from that group under .500 at home.The Angels, who started this season a franchise-best 13-3, will try to improve their home mark against Texas right-hander Doug Fister, who is winless in his past nine starts, but has sprinkled in enough quality outings to show he deserves better.Fister (1-5, 4.09) shut out the Chicago White Sox for seven innings on May 17 and left with a 1-0 lead, but the bullpen gave up four runs in the eighth in the 4-2 loss.After a rough outing against the New York Yankees six days later, Fister held the Seattle Mariners to two runs and six hits over six innings on Monday but took the loss in the 2-1 defeat.Texas (25-36) has been held to two runs or fewer in four of Fister's past five outings, but he said he'll always pitch as if it's a 0-0 game."I've got to go out there and do my job and put up a zero regardless of what the offense is doing or not doing," he told reporters after he latest start. "For me, I always have the same mindset. We could be up 10 or down 10, I've got the same job to do. It doesn't change." The Angels signed Fister to a minor-league deal early last season, but he never appeared with the major league club before asking for his release from Triple-A Salt Lake about a month later.He's 3-5 in his career against Los Angeles with a 3.03 ERA in 14 starts. He faced them on April 9 in Texas and gave up three runs and six hits in five innings. He took the loss in the 8-3 defeat.Fister doesn't figure to alter his approach based on that performance."Scouting reports don't do a whole lot for me," Fister said. "It's more of what do I do, and what do I do well, which is stick with it. We've had a great team here and I've got to utilize the defense." The Angels are 3-6 in their last nine games after wasting a big night from Mike Trout, who hit his 19th homer and fell a double shy of the cycle.Los Angeles left-hander Tyler Skaggs (3-4, 3.60) is winless in his past six starts. He is 0-3 with a 4.13 ERA in those starts.He is coming off his roughest outing of that stretch, giving up five runs and six hits in five innings of a 9-3 loss at the Detroit Tigers on Monday. The big blow was a grand slam by catcher James McCann in the third inning."One bad pitch, that's been the story of my season," Skaggs told reporters afterward.Skaggs has allowed seven of his eight homers during his winless skid, which started with a 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees on April 29.Skaggs earned one of his wins this season against the Rangers on April 10, allowing one run and five hits in five innings of an 11-1 win in Texas.Otherwise, he's struggled against the Rangers, owning a 3-2 mark and 6.00 ERA in nine starts.One player for Texas he hasn't had difficulty getting out is second baseman Rougned Odor, who's 0-for-11 in his career against Skaggs.
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