ANAHEIM — In an era when we have become accustomed to players shooting quickly to the majors, especially with the Angels, what Caden Dana did on Sunday was still exceptional.
As soon as the 20-year-old right-hander threw his first pitch, he became youngest Angels pitcher to start a game in 51 years.
Dana gave up two runs in six innings to set the Angels on their way to a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Dana became the youngest player to pitch for the Angels since Francisco Rodriguez in 2002. He’s the youngest to start a game since Frank Tanana in 1973. He is the youngest pitcher in franchise history to win his debut.
“I thought he was great,” catcher Matt Thaiss said. “I know he’s 20. He didn’t act like it. He stayed composed. A lot innings with some base runners on and he made big quality pitches. I think he’s got the stuff and the maturity to be here right now and he’s only going to get better.”
Dana said the size of the moment hit him when he looked in from the mound toward the plate.
“You’re staring at the hitter, and there’s a lot more stadium behind the hitter,” Dana said.
His nerves died down quickly, though.
“After the first pitch, just that’s what all my nerves kind of released,” he said. “Just trying to keep it together, get through that first couple batters and get comfortable. Getting a quick out, two quick outs, definitely gave me a lot of confidence to trust my stuff throughout the game.”
Fans responded to the opportunity to see the organization’s top pitching prospect. The Angels announced that they sold 39,370 tickets — an unusually large crowd for a September game when they’re out of the race — to see Dana make his big league debut.
Dana struck out four and walked four.
He allowed a solo homer to Luke Raley on a fastball over the middle in the second inning. In the third, Dana left a fastball over the outer half of the plate and Josh Rojas punched it into the left field corner for a double. Rojas went to third on a grounder and scored on a fly ball.
After that, though, Dana did not give up another hit. He got a double play to help him work around a walk in the fourth. He struck out Robles swinging through a cutter to strand two in the fifth.
Dana walked No. 3 hitter Cal Raleigh with one out in the sixth, but then he struck out Randy Arozarena looking at a cutter that nipped the inside corner and he got Jorge Polanco on a fly ball.
The way he got out of the fifth and sixth was eye-opening to manager Ron Washington.
“I very impressed,” Washington said. “That’s where he showed his presence right there. He was not going to allow that to get out of hand. And that’s what you want to see in a pitcher. And now we’ve just seen it in a 20-year-old that pitched in A ball last year, and first time in Double-A (this year).
“I think he knows he can pitch in the big leagues, and there’s a lot of growth left. That’s the amazing thing. He has a lot of growth left. I’m saying he’s not where he’s gonna be, but he’s good enough right now. He proved to himself today that he could pitch in the big leagues. Now we just gotta see where else he goes from there.”
Dana walked off the mound after his 95th pitch with a 3-2 lead, and the bullpen had nine outs to maneuver to get him a victory. Ryan Miller, Brock Burke and Ben Joyce each handled an inning to close out the one-run game.
They had no margin for error because all the Angels runs came on two swings.
Taylor Ward led off the first inning with his 19th homer of the season, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games.
Ward also doubled in the fifth. Zach Neto was then hit by a pitch. Nolan Schanuel hit a fly ball to deep center field. Ward tagged up and went to third, and Neto correctly read the throw and was able to get to second.
That proved to be significant, because Anthony Rendon then hit a line drive off the glove of diving shortstop Leo Rivas. Both runners were able to score, giving the Angels a 3-2 lead.
That was all the Angels needed, thanks to the work of Dana and the bullpen.
After it was over, the Angels could celebrate. Traditionally, when a pitcher picks up his first big league victory, he gets doused by all manner of liquids, including beer, by his teammates.
Dana, of course, is not of legal age to drink, so Thaiss quipped that it was all “apple juice, orange juice and Gatorade.”
Dana then said that he “probably can’t disclose too much” about the postgame celebration. Whatever happened exactly, it was a significant moment for Dana and an Angels team that’s trying to assemble enough young talent to finally end its playoff drought.
“I was in college at 20,” Thaiss said. “For him to do that at the big league level was extremely, extremely impressive.”
