DETROIT — Angels manager Kurt Suzuki had a prophetic comment about Vaughn Grissom hours before Tuesday’s game.
The infielder had been struggling for about a week, but Suzuki said he still liked how he was hitting the ball, and that “it’ll turn soon.”
By the end of the night, Grissom had three hits, including a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning of the Angels’ 10-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
The Angels (21-34) have won four in a row for the first time this season.
In this game, the hitters picked up starter Jack Kochanowicz, who was charged with three runs in the fifth inning and five in the game.
After struggling to produce in the clutch for most of the first two months of the season, the Angels have been doing better lately. On Tuesday night they were 6 for 15 with runners in scoring position. Even though they had some missed chances — like three straight strikeouts with two on in the second inning — they kept getting opportunities.
“It gets magnified when you get one or two opportunities and you don’t get them in and you kind of dwell on that,” Suzuki said. “Instead, we keep getting guys on, keep getting opportunities and these guys came through. Kudos to them for getting more opportunities and getting those guys in.”
Grissom had two of those hits, driving in a career-high six runs. His three-hit night gave him one more hit than he had in his previous 28 at-bats.
“Obviously it’s tough when you’re not getting hits, but I feel like I was hitting the ball hard often and it was just not going to roll on my way,” Grissom said. “So just trying to trust what you’re doing. Obviously it’s tough when hits aren’t falling, but just trying to trust it, put the barrel on the ball, and and let whatever happens happens.”
Grissom was nonetheless batting in the No. 3 spot, with Nolan Schanuel nursing a sore calf, so he had several opportunities to drive in runs.
In the third inning, Grissom came up with runners at first and second. Zach Neto got a huge jump from first as Grissom hit a hard ground ball through the middle. Neto never slowed down and scored when the Tigers were too slow getting the ball in from the outfield.
“I thought that was awesome,” Suzuki said. “I know Neto’s been really working hard on the bases lately. That was a huge one for us. I think that set the tone. Not even just that he scored, but I think it was just setting the tone for the team of playing hard and getting after it.”
Grissom added another single in the seventh, but his big moment was coming in the eighth.
Down by two when the inning began, the Angels put together a two-out rally. Logan O’Hoppe’s double off the wall – his second hit of the game – drove in one run. Neto then singled when his comebacker deflected off pitcher Will Vest. Mike Trout was walked, loading the bases for Grissom.
Grissom got ahead, 2-and-0, and then Vest poured a fastball over the outer half of the plate.
“Just trying to be short to the ball,” Grissom said. “I’ve been hitting a lot of balls on the ground. So I’m like ‘Let me see something up and and just try to give it a ride over second.’”
It went over everything. Grissom hit it toward the cavernous right-center field gap at Comerica Park. The ball cleared the top of the wall by about six feet, as Grissom pumped his fist rounding first base.
“In BP, I was watching him hit, I said, ‘Man, he doesn’t even have to swing hard to hit that ball far,’” Suzuki said. “He just took a nice, controlled swing and hit it out. That’s impressive territory out there in right-center for that grand slam. It was great.”
Right-handers Chase Silseth and Kirby Yates then worked the last two innings, with José Siri’s homer in between providing an insurance run for Yates. (He might not have wanted the insurance run, since it denied him a chance to pick up his 100th career save.)
The late rally spared Kochanowicz, who continues to struggle with one bad inning in most of his games. He has allowed 20 earned runs in 20 innings in his last four starts, and 13 of them have scored during three innings.
“Just keep working,” Kochanowicz said. “I can’t put my finger on it. Obviously I want to continue to keep working on the breaking ball, but I don’t feel like that really messed things up today too much. It was just, baseball is tough, you know? I’ve got to be able to be better out there.”
Kochanowicz got off to a decent start, despite getting hit in the foot by a sharp comebacker. The Angels came out to check on him twice, a second time after he threw a pitch about five feet out of the strike zone. Kochanowicz remained in the game, though. Kochanowicz said the ball off his foot didn’t affect him.
In the first four innings he gave up two runs, but he had thrown only 52 pitches. He struck out four and hadn’t walked anyone, although he hit one batter.
In the fifth, though, he couldn’t get an out. The inning started with a bloop single from Matt Vierling, and then Kochanowicz walked No. 9 hitter Wenceel Perez. Kevin McGonigle punched a ground ball inside the first-base line, for a two-run triple, tying the score. Kochanowicz then walked Dillon Dingler, ending his day.
The game was tied, 4-4, when left-hander Mitch Farris entered. He allowed one more run to score on a single before escaping the inning with the Angels down 5-4.
All the runs were charged to Kochanowicz, who is struggling to be as good as he was in April.
“You see flashes of greatness, and then you see a little bit of maybe a missed spot or missed execution, and it doesn’t get fouled off, it gets hit,” Suzuki said. “I feel like that’s where we’re at right now, but I feel for the most part, he’s battling. He’s attacking. It’s just finding that consistent groove.”