Aldegheri pitches well, Neto ends slump in Angels win over White Sox

ANAHEIM, Calif. — As quickly as things got ugly, the Angels righted the ship just as quickly. 

Filling in for left-hander Yusei Kikuchi’s start in the rotation as he was put on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, left-hander Sam Aldegheri allowed the first four batters of the game to reach base, with two of them scoring.

A successful mound visit by pitching coach Mike Maddux helped Aldegheri settle in and a few home runs by the bats boosted the Angels en route to their 4-2* win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night. 

The Angels are still undecided about what they will do with Kikuchi’s spot in the rotation, but Aldegheri pitched a well enough game to be in consideration the next time around. 

After allowing a lead-off single, back-to-back walks and another single to start the game, Maddux went out to the mound to calm down the 24-year-old.

“He just told me to attack the zone, stay calm and make a pitch one pitch at a time,” Aldegheri said.

Following the visit, Aldegheri induced three straight flyouts to end the inning, minimizing the damage to just two runs. 

The left-hander then delivered three scoreless innings to round out his day, putting his final line at four innings of work, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks, but he didn’t record any strikeouts. 

“He commanded his fastball a lot better, which made his changeup a little bit more effective,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “When you can establish the fastball a little bit better, it makes your changeup that much better, and it kept them off balance, got a lot of weaker contact towards the end there.”

One thing Aldegheri will look to improve on is putting away hitters, as all four hits against him came with two strikes. 

“I think I just need to be more aggressive,” Aldegheri said about reaching two-strike counts.

With Kikuchi being shut down for the next three to four weeks, the Angels need to figure out who will take his spot in the rotation for the time being. 

Aldegheri is obviously an option. The Angels have right-hander Alek Manoah, who is currently on a rehab assignment and could be activated soon. Also on the mend from injury is right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who is currently pitching in the Angels’ Arizona Complex League and should begin a rehab assignment soon. Right-hander Ryan Johnson is also working through his rehab assignment after dealing with an illness and a hamstring flare-up. 

Of the healthy and ready-to-go-now options, right-handers Caden Dana and George Klassen are both on the Angels’ 40-man roster and are in Triple-A Salt Lake. 

Offensively, the Angels were powered by the long ball. 

Center fielder Mike Trout and designated hitter Jorge Soler each belted solo home runs of their own in the bottom of the first to pick up Aldegheri and tie the game. 

In the fifth inning, shortstop Zach Neto deposited a ball into the Angels’ bullpen to give the Angels a one-run lead. In his previous at-bat, Neto singled to snap an 0-for-23 streak. Tuesday was his first multi-hit effort since April 26. 

“I was in the biggest slump ever in my career,” Neto said. “Just the sound of the bat again, it reminisced me of a lot of good things. It's one of those things where it just takes one swing to get back into the mix of things. I felt good at the plate today. It's just a matter of keep building days.”

A normal way to snap out of a slump is through mechanical changes or maybe new superstitious routines. But for Neto, he credits Pokémon cards.

Neto said that he opened Pokémon cards with Trout before the game to get his mind off of baseball, as Neto struggles with being too hard on himself, especially during slumps. Trout told Neto that these packs “had homers in them,” and lo and behold, both Trout and Neto homered.

“Later in the game, you see him come over to me and hug me,” Neto said. “He was just telling me, ‘Hey, dude, I told you that case had homers.’ It's just those little things that matter the most to me. It's pretty cool.”

Trout walked after the Neto homer, and then first baseman Nolan Schanuel doubled to score Trout from first base for the eventual winning run. Out in the field, Trout also made a couple of nice running catches to save extra bases. 

His healthy start to the season has him at a 28.7 feet-per-second sprint speed, which ranks in the 92nd percentile in baseball. He’s now hitting .262 with a .999 OPS and 11 home runs. 

The Angels look to take the series on Wednesday’s matinee affair with right-hander Walbert Ureña on the mound.