Offense erupts and Kochanowicz shuts down Reds
Jack Janes
Host · Writer
Hits have been hard to come by for the Angels in the early going of 2026.
They entered Friday night’s game with the second-worst batting average, ninth-worst on-base percentage and sixth-worst slugging percentage in baseball. Facing one of the game’s most exciting young starting pitchers, the possibility of the offensive skid continuing appeared likely.
The Angels (7-7) flipped the script by putting up five runs on right-hander Chase Burns in a 10-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds (8-6) to start their seven-game road trip.
In Burns’ first two starts of the season, he’s posted a 0.82 ERA while striking out 16 batters in 11.0 innings. Friday was a different story.
He allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 ⅓ innings of work while walking four and only striking out a pair of Angels.
The Angels drew first blood in the second inning when Adam Frazier drew a bases-loaded walk. In the third, Jorge Soler hit a two-strike two-out double down the left field line and then scored on a bloop single by Yoán Moncada.
Then came the long ball.
Zach Neto connected on a middle-middle 98.6 miles per hour fastball by Burns and sent it 417 feet away to dead center in the fourth inning for a two-run home run. That was Neto’s fifth home run of the season, which ties the league lead.
Then in the sixth, Josh Lowe poked a line drive just over the wall in right field for his second homer of the year to make it 5-1.
The Angels busted the game open in the eighth inning, but also had some help from Reds pitchers. The Red pitchers combined to walk four batters in the inning, including one with the bases loaded.
Soler then promptly unloaded the bases with a rocket of a grand slam that left the bat at 110 miles per hour to put the game out of reach.
On the mound for the Angels, right-hander Jack Kochanowicz turned in his second consecutive strong start, allowing just a run in seven innings of work on two hits, while walking four and striking out two.
Kochanowicz’s only blemish came in the fifth inning when he walked three straight Reds and one of them scored on a groundout.
He had to rely on his sinker more in this start because he struggled to land his secondary offerings for strikes. The elevated use of the sinker helped Kochanowicz induce 11 groundouts.
Kochnowicz’s ERA is now 3.24 through three starts.
