ANAHEIM —The Angels 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night is one that likely won’t be forgotten by a few of the players, for wildly different reasons.
There was good. There was bad. And there was Nickelback. Lots of Nickelback.
The good was highlighted by Mickey Moniak, who had the first multi-homer game of his career, with a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh inning and a game-winning blast in the ninth.
Jo Adell also hit two homers, providing the Angels’ first two runs of the night. He reached the 20 homer milestone, which he had said was a goal he set before the season even began.
Adell and Moniak have each shown dramatic improvement throughout the season, providing hope that they can be productive long-term pieces of the Angels future.
And then there was Zach Neto, a player who has been good enough all season that he’s already proven he is a key piece of the club’s future.
Neto, however, had a mental lapse in the fourth inning, opening the door for two Mariners runs, and he made an error when he misplayed a grounder in the fifth. When the Angels took the field in the sixth, Neto was on the bench.
“He wasn’t into it tonight, so I didn’t I didn’t want him to be out there and be more frustrated, so I made a change,” manager Ron Washington said.
Washington added that it’s all part of teaching this young Angels team what it means to compete every day over the grind of a six-month season.
“A lot of those kids out there have never been through this,” Washington said. “And sometimes you have to teach them the lesson that they need to learn. And the lesson you need to learn is he’s a big time piece, and he cannot let what happens during the course of a ball game affect what he does during the course of the ball game. That’s all that was. That was a lesson.”
Neto’s mental mistake was when he failed to cover second after the Angels had picked off Dylan Moore at first. First baseman Nolan Schanuel’s throw to second instead hit umpire Mike Muchlinski. Moore was safe. Two walks and a hit later, the one-run lead became a three-run lead.
Neto, who immediately made himself available to reporters after the game, clearly understood.
“Just didn’t have it today,” Neto said. “Me and wash have a really good relationship. He thought it was best to take me out in that moment. I respect it. Just try to be the best teammate I can.”
Neto was in the dugout watching when Jack López — the player who replaced — failed to successfully get down a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the eighth, when the Angels had a chance to take the lead.
https://x.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1830093328349823062
Since the Angels were unable to manufacture runs, they instead just hit four balls over the fence.
Adell hit solo homers in the third and sixth innings. Adell has now hit .273 with an .844 OPS in 109 plate appearances since scrapping his leg kick in favor of a toe tap about a month ago.
An inning later, Moniak belted a two-run homer to tie the game, 4-4. The next time he came to the plate, he yanked the game-winning homer, against Mariners closer Andres Muñoz.
Moniak has an 1.116 OPS in August. Dating back to mid June, Moniak has an .853 OPS over his last 213 plate appearances.
“What he is doing is he’s getting the ball close to him, and I’m not talking about all the way inside,” Washington said. “He’s getting the ball middle in, and not missing right now. He is not missing. And when you get locked in, you don’t miss the pitches you can get. And right now he is locked in. And when they make a mistake anywhere on the middle of the plate toward him, he’s getting a good swing on. He’s he’s fighting off the pitch away from him, and he’s spitting on the other ones. So that tells you right there, he’s locked in.”
Moniak, who was hitting under .200 until late June, said it’s been a slow climb, but it’s been steady for a couple of months.
“I think progressively throughout the year, I felt better and better every day,” Moniak said. “This game is not a straight line. Obviously, not the start I wanted, but I just kind of stuck with it. Trying to have some fun. Just trusted my abilities. and what I can do. Just try to go out there and compete on the field.”
Moniak spoke to reporters in a clubhouse that moments early had been filled with the sounds of one of Nickelback’s hits. The Angels, you may recall, had every hitter walk up to the plate to a song from the prolific Canadian rock band when they were trying to snap their 13-game losing streak in 2022. They lost that night, before ending the skid the next night.
On Saturday, though, they tried it again, to a much better outcome.
“As of now I love it,” Moniak said. “I’m sure we’re going to roll with it again tomorrow.”
