Taylor Ward’s 2nd grand slam of trip leads Angels to 7th straight win

WEST SACRAMENTO — The way things are going for the Angels lately, not even a bad six innings could derail them.

Taylor Ward’s seventh-inning grand slam erased a three-run deficit, leading the Angels to a 10-5 victory over the A’s on Thursday afternoon. They extended their winning streak to seven games.

The Angels (24-25) had not won seven games in a row since 2022, and they hadn’t won seven straight road games since 2018. They hadn’t swept any four-game series since 2022.

“The main thing is our young kids are continuing to grow, and now our veterans are starting to show what they’re about,” Manager Ron Washington said. “And if we can keep that combination going, you’re gonna see a lot more of what you seeing.”

The bats continue to be the story of the streak. The Angels scored at least six runs in six of the games, averaging 7.7 runs. They’ve hit 17 homers.

On Thursday, though, they got started late.

At the end of the sixth inning, the Angels trailed 5-2. Starter Tyler Anderson pitched a sloppy game, with a career-high six walks, and the offense had wasted a couple of opportunities to put multiple runs on the board.

Kevin Newman led off the seventh with a single. An out later, Zach Neto punched a single to right field, his third hit of the game. Nolan Schanuel then walked on four pitches.

Ward got a 1-and-0 fastball over the middle of the plate and he hammered it over the center field fence, for his second grand slam on this trip. He hit one in the ninth inning in San Diego in the first game of the trip.

It was the 14th homer of the season for Ward, including eight in the last 16 games.

Ward also has an extra-base hit in eight straight games, the first Angels player to do that since Tim Salmon in 2000.

“I feel like I can hit anything, to be honest,” Ward said. “The game is slow right now. And luck’s on my side as well.”

Washington said it’s a matter of Ward putting in the work to get his swing right, a process that included two days worth of live batting practice against an Angels minor league pitcher earlier this month. Since then, Ward has hit .318 with an OPS of 1.158.

“He’s found his stroke,” Washington said. “He seems to center the ball every time he goes up there, even when he makes outs. That’s exactly what we’ve been looking for. Took him a minute to get there, but we never gave up on him, and he never gave up on himself. So now he’s reaping the benefit of all the hard work.”

Ward had sole possession of the team lead in home runs for just a couple of minutes. Logan O’Hoppe, who had struck out with runners in scoring position in his previous two trips, then hit an opposite-field homer. It was O’Hoppe’s 14th of the season, and fourth in the last three games.

With their first lead of the game, the Angels had to get through nine more outs with a bullpen that has been worked hard during the winning streak.

Left-hander Reid Detmers pitched a scoreless seventh, thanks to a double play. Detmers has allowed one run in six innings since the three-game nightmare he endured a couple of weeks ago. Ryan Zeferjahn, pitching for the fifth time in seven days, got through a scoreless eighth with the help of a double play.

With closer Kenley Jansen getting another day off after pitching in four of the previous six games, the Angels gave themselves breathing room with three more runs in the top of the ninth. Connor Brodgon finished for the second game in a row.

Right-hander Hunter Strickland, who recorded four outs between Anderson and Detmers, got the victory.

“The bullpen was huge today because we were flat,” Washington said. “We didn’t have very many to choose from.”

It was a better finish than the start for Anderson, who was charged with five runs in 4⅔ innings.

Besides the walks, Anderson was hit hard. He gave up a two-run homer to Brent Rooker in the first inning. In the fifth, he allowed another double to Rooker. Neto helped bail him out of further trouble by combining with Ward, the left fielder, on a pair of throws to nail a runner at the plate.

While it was a grind for Anderson, he said his teammates never lost their energy behind him.

“I was having a hard time out there, fighting the zone,” Anderson said. “And I feel like on defense, especially, it’s really easy to just kind of get flat footed and not necessarily be negative, but just take your energy away. And I just felt like the whole time I was out there grinding, our defenders were so positive behind me too. And just like, picking me up, picking me up, picking me up, like in between innings. Maybe it didn’t show. Didn’t work out great for me, but it means a lot for pitchers, for us, for guys like that to be locked in with you. They’re living and dying with you. And then I think it means it leads to good at-bats after that. Guys never giving up. It was awesome to see.”