ANAHEIM — With his glove over his face as he walked off the field Sunday, George Klassen could breathe in both frustration and relief all at the same time.
The 24-year-old right-hander made his major league debut as a late replacement for right-hander Ryan Johnson, who fell ill, and had to bob and weave through the early innings.
It was far from the desired result as Klassen, who did not make it out of the third inning on 73 pitches and yet managed to show the fight the Angels hope will be a feature of his career.
The Angels had the rookie’s back, rallying back from three separate deficits to earn an 8-7 victory in 11 innings on a game-ending sacrifice fly from Nolan Schanuel. Shaun Anderson (1-0) gave up an unearned run over two innings to earn the win.
The victory did come with a price as Mike Trout departed in the eighth inning after he was hit in the back of the left hand by a Casey Legumina pitch.
Despite five walks and three hits allowed, Klassen held the Mariners to four runs over 2⅔ innings with four strikeouts.
One of the top pitching prospects in the organization, Klassen gave up an ambush double to Luke Raley on his first major league pitch but escaped damage in the first inning. Trouble arrived in the second in the form of three walks to the first four batters, followed by a two-run single from Leo Rivas.
In the third, a Josh Naylor bunt single and second walk of the game to Randy Arozarena had Klassen in trouble again but he struck out J.P Crawford and got Cole Young to fly out to Mike Trout at the base of the center field wall before he was removed.
The Angels were even through three innings on a pair of RBI singles from Jorge Soler went up 4-2 in the fourth on a run-scoring error by Seattle third baseman Leo Rivas and an RBI infield single from Nolan Schanuel.
A three-run home run by Young gave the Mariners a brief 5-3 lead in the fifth before the Angels answered with a game-tying single from Jo Adell and went up 6-5 on an RBI single from Adam Frazier.
The Mariners tied it in the ninth, getting a two-out RBI double from Cal Raleigh and a broken-bat RBI single from Julio Roidriguez off Sam Bachman. Both teams scored single runs in the 10th.
Adell’s RBI hit came less than 24 hours after he robbed three potential Mariners home runs in a 1-0 victory Saturday.
“It fired the guys up,” manager Kurt Suzuki said Sunday when asked about Adell’s glove work. “We were talking about all spring, and again now, it’s the camaraderie, the tightness in that clubhouse. Everybody really pulling for each other to do well, and it can definitely get you going in the right direction.”
Klassen has more work to do to tap into the vibe.
In five spring appearances (four starts), Klassen had a 6.43 ERA over 14 innings, but most of that damage came in the Freeway Series when he gave up five runs with four walks in 2⅓ innings against the Dodgers. In his lone start at Triple-A Salt Lake, he gave up one earned run and took the loss.
With two outings from the Angel Stadium mound now complete, the Angels hope Klassen can join what they believe will be a wave of young pitching. In addition to Johnson and Klassen, the club has high hopes for Caden Dana, Walbert Ureña and Tyler Bremner.
“He’s always had the stuff, and he was a lot more consistent in the zone and attacking hitters (in the spring),” Suzuki said. “So we really liked everything that he did for us.”