Rookies spark Angels' offense in support of Griffin Canning, ending losing streak

ANAHEIM — Before the Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-0, to break their six-game losing streak on Tuesday night, Manager Ron Washington explained that all of this losing has been tougher on the players than him.

“It’s easy for me,” Washington said, “because I’ve been through it. They’ve never been through it.”

What’s more, Washington said, he’s seen the other side.

“Everything they’ve been through is going to certainly help them moving forward,” he said. “We don’t see it now, but it will. It will help moving forward.”

The Angels (61-90) have been relying on young players all year, and they’ve only gotten younger toward the end of this miserable season. With injuries knocking most of the veterans out of the lineup, the Angels are regularly using lineups full of players with barely any experience.

On Tuesday, they had five rookies in the lineup, and five players who were 25 or under. The oldest player was Taylor Ward, who turned 30 in December.

Three of the rookies who made the biggest contributions on Tuesday made their debuts within the past five weeks.

Eric Wagaman homered and singled twice. Wagaman, a 28-year-old product of Aliso Niguel High and Orange Coast College, has five extra-base hits in his first seven major league games.

“He looks very comfortable in the box right now,” Washington said. “And the best hit he got tonight wasn’t the home run, it was that base hit he got on the right side (in the eighth). You don’t see young kids stay on the ball like that going to the right side. But he did.”

Wagaman said he’s enjoyed tasting some personal success early, even though he hadn’t experienced a victory until Tuesday.

“It’s been really cool to be able to get the first few hits out of the way, get a couple home runs,” said Wagaman, who hit his first major league homer in Monday’s loss. “I feel like it’s especially cool to be a part of a win. It’s been a couple days so that I feel like that’s kind of the coolest part.”

Gustavo Campero also had two hits. Campero, 26, had kicked around the New York Yankees’ and Angels’ farm systems for seven years before finally getting his first taste of the big leagues this week.

Niko Kavadas singled to help produce the run in the fourth, and also drew a walk. Kavadas, 25, was one of the players the Angels received from the Boston Red Sox in the Luis Garcia trade. After a slow start, he’s hit .333 with a .929 OPS in his last seven games.

Nolan Schanuel, who is still a rookie even though he made his big league debut last August, walked and scored in the fourth and doubled to drive in a run in the fifth.

The four rookies created four runs, which was more than enough on a night when Griffin Canning – a wily 28-year-old veteran – had one of his best outings of the season.

Canning worked six scoreless innings, allowing just three singles. The White Sox only had a runner in scoring position in one inning, and Canning escaped that jam with a double play.

“I have this chart next to me that says how you attack a guy early, how you attack a guy late, and he and (catcher Logan) O’Hoppe executed. And when you execute what you’re supposed to do, you get those type of results. In other outings, he wasn’t executing all the time, but tonight, he executed. He really did.”

It’s now been three good outings for Canning in his last five games. He also worked six scoreless innings – after an opener – on Aug. 22 at Toronto, and he gave up one run in 6⅔ innings against the Dodgers on Sept. 4.

The victory helped the Angels avoid the ignominy of losing consecutive games to a White Sox team that has now lost 116 games, steaming toward the major league record of 120.