Mickey Moniak’s 3-run homer sparks Angels to victory over Rangers

Moniak’s fifth homer of the season gives the Angels a four-run lead in the second inning and sends them on their way to a 7-2 win. Moniak has slumped for most of the season, but he’s hit .256 with a .772 OPS over his last 98 plate appearances.

ANAHEIM — Mickey Moniak is still trying to climb out of the hole that he dug in the first two months of the season.

Moniak hit a three-run homer to provide the big blow in the Angels’ 7-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.

The Angels (38-54) snapped their three-game losing streak by playing a solid all-around game, starting with Moniak’s second-inning blast.

Moniak, who also singled, is still hitting .198 with a .567 OPS, the result of a mostly disappointing season. Since mid-June, he’s had some better stretches, amounting to a .256 average and .772 OPS over his last 98 plate appearances.

He’s still gotten regular playing time through it all because Mike Trout has been injured and Kevin Pillar is 35 years old, so the Angels don’t want to overplay him.

With the Angels out of the playoff race, there’s no reason not to keep giving the 26-year-old Moniak at-bats to see if he can get back to last year’s form. He hit .280 with an .802 OPS and 14 homers in 2023.

He hit his fifth homer of the season on Wednesday, capping a four-run inning against right-hander Michael Lorenzen.

Lorenzen didn’t retire any of the first five hitters of the inning, with the only out coming when Logan O’Hoppe was caught stealing.

Brandon Drury and Matt Thaiss each walked, and then Zach Neto drove in a run with a single.

Moniak then launched a three-run homer to right, making it 4-0.

The Angels added a run in the third on singles from O’Hoppe and Thaiss, followed by Neto’s RBI double.

Right-hander Griffin Canning was the beneficiary of the early run scoring outburst, but he didn’t last long enough to get a victory out of it.

Canning did not even allow the Rangers to get a runner into scoring position in the first four innings. In the fifth, though, he gave up a single to Jonah Heim, a two-run homer to Leody Tavares and then singles to Marcus Semien and Corey Seager and a walk to Josh Smith.

With the bases loaded and one out, Manager Ron Washington came out to get Canning, two outs shy of qualifying for a victory.

Because the bullpen was thin after working seven innings the night before, right-hander Hans Crouse was the first one through the gate. Crouse escaped the jam by striking out Wyatt Langford and Adolis García. Crouse added a scoreless sixth.

Crouse, who was originally drafted by the Rangers in the second round of out of Dana Hills High, has gotten off to a nice start in his Angels career.

Crouse has allowed one run in 10⅔ innings over nine games.

Right-hander Hunter Strickland, who was working the night after throwing 17 pitches in two innings, got only two outs and loaded the bases. Right-hander José Marte bailed him out by getting Adolis Garcia on a popout.

Marte then pitched a perfect eighth. By the time closer Carlos Estévez took the mound in the ninth, the Angels had some insurance from Neto’s two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.

More to come on this story.