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Angels relievers Hans Crouse, José Marte…

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Los Angeles Angels |
Angels relievers Hans Crouse, José Marte escape jams in victory over Rangers

Getting high-leverage opportunities because the bullpen had been taxed this week, Crouse enters with the bases loaded in the fifth and gets two strikeouts, while Marte induces a bases-loaded pop-up in the seventh followed by a perfect inning in a 7-2 win

Angels relief pitcher Hans Crouse throws to the plate during the fifth inning of their game against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Angels relief pitcher Hans Crouse throws to the plate during the fifth inning of their game against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Jeff Fletcher, Angels reporter, sports. Date shot: 09/26/2012 . Photo by KATE LUCAS / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
By | [email protected] | Orange County Register
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The Angels’ Mickey Moniak, right, is congratulated by Zach Neto, center, after hitting a three-run home run as Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim stands by during the second inning on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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ANAHEIM — Knowing his bullpen was tapped after Angels’ starting pitchers left the relievers 12⅔ innings of work in the previous two games, Manager Ron Washington told right-handers Hans Crouse and José Marte that they might be used in situations that were more high-leverage than usual.

“We let them know that they were going to be the guys in certain situations tonight,” Washington said. “Just come in and be who you are.”

The results were spectacular.

Crouse and Marte each entered with the bases loaded and a three-run lead, and the two pitchers got out unscathed to help the Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 7-2, on Wednesday night.

“A lot of mental toughness,” said catcher Matt Thaiss, who added Hunter Strickland’s performance in between Crouse and Marte.

The Angels (38-54) seemed to be on their way to a comfortable victory, with a 5-0 lead on the strength of Mickey Moniak’s three-run homer in the second inning. But Griffin Canning started to let it get away in the fifth. He gave up a two-run homer and then allowed the Rangers to load the bases with one out.

Washington came to get the ball, and he brought in Crouse, a 25-year-old rookie pitching in his 11th major league game. Crouse, a Dana Hills High product who was originally drafted by the Rangers in the third round in 2017, had to deal with Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia. Langford is one of the game’s best rookies and Garcia has been one of the best clutch hitters. He hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning the night before.

Crouse struck out both of them. And then he added a scoreless sixth inning. Because Canning didn’t pitch the required five innings for a victory, the official scorer had the discretion to pick the winning pitcher, and Crouse ended up with his first major league victory.

“It feels good,” Crouse said. “A really cool feeling for me that it came at home. Growing up here. Having my grandpa, wife and son in the stands makes it even more special. I was just trying to do my job in there, minimize damage. Honestly looking to get a double play ball get out of the inning, but picking up those two strikeouts and then throwing a scoreless inning after that was pretty dang cool. So it’s a special moment for me. For sure one I’ll never forget.”

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

“I’m just trying to throw the ball over the plate as many times as I can,” Crouse said. “Let my deception and my delivery play for me. At the end of the day, I just kind of dumb it down. The best hitters hit .300. Still getting out seven out of 10 times. I just kind of tell myself when I’m on the mound, ‘Why can’t one of those seven times be against me?’ I know it sounds corny, but it’s been working for me so far. So I’m gonna keep it going.”

Strickland followed Crouse to the mound in the seventh, and he got into a bases-loaded, one-out jam. He got the second out of the inning with a strikeout of Langford, and then Marte got Garcia on a pop-up, followed by a perfect eighth.

By the time Carlos Estévez came out to pitch a perfect ninth, he had an extra cushion because of Zach Neto’s two-run homer.

The first homer of the night came from Moniak, who is trying to climb out of the hole he dug in the first two months of the season.

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.

“It’s a long process, a long season,” Moniak said. “Things haven’t gone the way I wanted to up to this point, but it’s in the past. There’s nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can do is kind of control what I can control, focus on my work, focus on getting better every day and kind of getting back to the baseball player I know it can be. I think today, obviously, you see the results out on the field and. It’s always good to help the team win. But most of the work comes you know, before 6:38.”

Washington said Moniak still has work to do to become consistent.

“I think once he finds consistency, the things that people believe that he can do, and the things that he believes he can do they’re going to start showing up more frequently,” Washington said. “Just gotta be consistent. Have a night like he had tonight, you gotta be able to come back tomorrow and build on that. You can’t come back and fight and nothing happens then four or five more days down the road and all of a sudden you find something. When you find it, you gotta lock it in.”

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