Boxscore Breakdown Game #29: The reinforcements have arrived – Angels 5, Rangers 3

Who said the Angels had no farm system? For one night at least, the prospects that the Angels are said not to have swooped in unexpectedly from Salt Lake to ride to the rescue of the Angels as they faced down the Texas Rangers.

Run Expectancy Rundown

C.J. Cron burst onto the scene with a big night, but please allow me to rain on the parade, or at least drizzle. Cron has a lot going for him. For example, he can be very aggressive. His first base hit, he jumped right on the first offering, taking advantage of a wavering pitcher. However, he also swung at bad pitches in his next three at-bats. The one out he made was on a pitch well out of the zone. His double was ball up and in, but he is so strong he nearly muscled it out. His final at-bat was a pitch that jammed him, but again, he was strong enough to get it into the outfield despite breaking his bat. If he can temper the aggression, he could be a big factor for the Angels, but if he doesn’t, pitchers will take full advantage.

I’d like to personally thank Ron Washington for this victory. Every time the Halos were in trouble, Elvis Andrus always seemed to come to the plate, inexplicably slotted in the two-hole despite being one of their worst hitters. As you can see, Andrus really helped the Angels out.

Starting Pitcher Scores

Not a great game score for Richards, but he was the victim of a lot of seeing-eye grounders. I’m much more impressed by his second straight game of high strikeouts. He continues to raise his stock. Meanwhile, the Angels took advantage of Matt Harrison still being on the comeback trail, unable to effectively use his normally strong changeup.

Bullpen Battle

Fernando Salas and Ernesto Frieri did a stellar job or protecting the lead to hand it to Joe Smith. I don’t even know what’s right anymore.

Game Flow

The Angels had it all the way up to 80% in the bottom of the third but saw that tumble to 36% in the top of the fourth. Fortunately, the Halos battled right back in the bottom of the inning and built their win expectancy from there.

Halo Hero

Even if he did get lucky, Cron made his own luck and made a big impression on the hearts of Angels fans everywhere. Mark Trumbo who?