DETROIT — Jack Kochanowicz was in a couple of messes Thursday afternoon, when the Detroit Tigers had two on and no outs.
Both times, he was able to take advantage of his best pitch.
Kochanowicz, who relies heavily on his sinker, got out of both jams by inducing double plays, helping him to six scoreless innings in the Angels’ 3-0 victory over the Tigers.
The Angels still aren’t hitting much – Zach Neto’s 20th homer provided two of the runs – but this time their pitching helped them snap their seven-game losing streak.
Kochanowicz, a 23-year-old rookie, has now had four consecutive quality starts, with a 2.46 ERA in 25 2/3 innings.
As he’s done consistently this month, Kochanowicz pounded the strike zone with his sinker and got the hitters to beat the ball into the ground.
Kochanowicz got 10 outs on grounders, including the two double plays. He threw 58 sinkers among his 73 pitches. Kochanowicz struck out four and did not walk any.
In the third, he gave up a leadoff double and hit a batter, but he then got Dillon Dingler to ground into a double play and struck out Parker Meadows.
Three innings later, Meadows and Kerry Carpenter led off the inning with singles. After Meadows went to third on a fly ball, Kochanowicz used his sinker to get a double-play ball from Jace Jung.
Relievers Roansy Contreras, José Quijada and Ben Joyce finished it off, preserving the shutout. Quijada got into a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, but Joyce struck out Spencer Torkelson to end the inning.
The solid pitching was enough on a day the Angels’ offense showed only moderate improvement.
Mickey Moniak drove in a run with a double in the fourth inning, and Neto hit his two-run homer in the fifth.
Neto, who has 23 stolen bases, became the first Angels infielder ever to have a 20-20 season.
More to come on this story.
