ANAHEIM — While the Angels wait to see what’s going to happen with two of their top starters, the third continues to give them hope for the future.
Rookie right-hander Walbert Ureña won the duel against Milwaukee Brewers sensation Jacob Misiorowski in the Angels’ 3-0 victory on Sunday afternoon.
Ureña worked six innings, striking out seven. Misiorowski was also dominant, with 10 strikeouts in seven innings, but he gave up a two-run homer to Wade Meckler in the second inning.
“You can see why that guy’s special on that side and why our guy’s special, too,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “I thought it was a good, fun matchup. Obviously Meck coming up with that big homer was kind of the game. It was a fun game.”
The Angels’ bullpen was able to protect the lead over the final three innings. Right-handers Luke Murphy, Sam Bachman and Ryan Zeferjahn handled the final nine outs, completing a victory that snapped a five-game losing streak.
Bachman recorded just one out in the eighth before leaving the game with a trainer. Suzuki said Bachman had a “dead arm” and would be re-evaluated in the coming days. Bachman called it “fatigue” and said he wasn’t concerned.
The focus will now shift to Monday’s trade deadline, with pitchers Reid Detmers and José Soriano and shortstop Zach Neto as the main characters. The Angels (43-69) could also trade outfielder Jo Adell, designated hitter Jorge Soler or any number of relievers.
Ureña, it’s safe to say, isn’t going anywhere. He just made his major league debut this season, so there’s no reason for the Angels to consider trading a 22-year-old with a 2.54 ERA.
Suzuki said the way he performed on Sunday showed how much he’s matured since he broke into the majors with a couple of rough outings in the first weeks of the season.
“You guys are probably tired of hearing me say it, but just the maturity of his demeanor, his composure,” Suzuki said. “He could have went out there and got too amped up and balls could have been flying all over the place, but he kept his composure. He was attacking the strike zone. Today might have been the best game he’s pitched all year.”
While the focus was on Ureña sharing the mound with Misiorowski, his real challenge was a Brewers lineup that has that team in first place. They are stacked with hitters who make contact and can hit the ball over the fence.
“This is one of the best teams,” Urena said. “Just try to stay calm and make pitches.”
The two pitchers got the game started in just the way you’d like to see from this kind of matchup. Each of them struck out the side on 10 pitches.
“They set the tone early,” Suzuki said. “They matched each other.”
Misiorowski, the hardest-throwing pitcher in the sport, reached 100 mph with 28 pitches, which was actually low for him. His average fastball was 99.6 mph, down from 100.6 coming into the game.
That’s what Meckler was looking for when he came up in the second inning.
“Just trying to stay on the heater with him,” Meckler said. “Obviously he’s got probably the best fastball in the game. You have to respect the heater at all times. Just got a cutter out in front.”
Meckler’s homer on a 95 mph cutter was the only blemish in Misiorowski’s day. He said after the game that he had trouble with the Angel Stadium mound. A couple of times he asked the grounds crew to come out and work on it. Misiorowski has a longer stride than any pitcher in baseball, so he often has to deal with mound issues.
Ureña had no problems with the mound or the Brewers’ hitters.
Ureña’s only rough inning was the third. He walked two and gave up a hit. But the first runner was erased when catcher Travis d’Arnaud threw him out trying to steal second base. Ureña got out of the inning with a comebacker.
The Brewers (69-42) only had two singles against Ureña over the next three innings.
Neto drove in an insurance run with an infield single in the bottom of the eighth. He had been in a 3-for-30 slump before that hit.