ANAHEIM — The Angels haven’t done much to improve their team this season, but a trade deadline deal they made two years ago continues to show a lot of potential for long-term return after George Klassen delivered another solid outing on Monday night against the Cleveland Guardians.
Though the rookie right-hander didn’t receive the run support, defense or help from the bullpen to emerge a winner in the opener of the three-game series, Klassen’s latest solid performance in a 4-2 loss to the Guardians provides the Angels more reason to be optimistic about the future of their starting pitching staff.
Klassen (2-2) allowed three runs (two earned) and six hits in 5⅓ innings. He struck out three and walked three on 90 pitches.
Klassen, who was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in July of 2024 for closer Carlos Estévez, came into the game riding a 10-inning scoreless streak after blanking the Houston Astros on one hit over seven innings in a 3-1 win last Tuesday.
Before 35-year-old left-hander Yusei Kikuchi gave up five runs in five innings of a 5-3 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sunday, Angels youngsters Klassen (24), Walbert Ureña (22), Grayson Rodriguez (26), Reid Detmers (27) and Ryan Johnson (24) had combined to allow three earned runs over the previous five games (32 innings).
The Angels also acquired left-hander Sam Aldegheri in the deal for Estévez, and the 24-year-old has a 3-4 record with the MLB club while spending most of 2026 with Triple-A Salt Lake.
The Guardians (66-66) loaded the bases with one out in the third off Klassen on two hard-hit singles and a four-pitch walk to Jo Adell, who was playing his first game against the Angels since they traded him to Cleveland for catching prospect Jacob Cozart on Aug. 3.
Nathaniel Lowe also hit the ball hard, but it resulted in a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left center to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead.
Guardians starting pitcher Parker Messick retired the first nine batters in order before Zach Neto lined a single up the middle to start the fourth. Mike Trout then reached out and poked a two-strike pitch up the middle. Neto took third on the play and Trout went to second on the throw to third.
With the infield in, Vaughn Grissom hit a grounder to second baseman Angel Genao, who caught Trout in a rundown between second and third. Grissom moved up to second during the play, and Moises Ballesteros followed with a two-strike single to center to tie it 1-1.
The Angels (52-80) were unable to add to their lead as Messick struck out the next two batters.
Klassen pitched around his own fielding error in the first, but couldn’t do the same following a two-base error by third baseman Denzer Guzman to start the fifth. Adell came up with two outs and grounded a single up the middle to score Brayan Rocchio for a 2-1 lead.
Angels right fielder Jose Siri, who made a diving catch off the bat of Rocchio to start the third, made an even tougher catch on a ball hit by Lowe that was headed for the corner to end the fifth and save a run.
Klassen came back out for the sixth and surrendered a leadoff walk before exiting after getting the next batter out.
Blake Weiman entered and got the second out, but Austin Hedges slammed a two-run homer to left center to extend the Guardians’ lead to 4-1.
The Angels put runners on the corners with one out in the ninth against Guardians closer Cade Smith and Gustavo Campero produced a sacrifice fly to cut it to 4-2 before Christian Moore flew out to end the game.
More to come on this story.