Angels' hitters come up empty in 4-0 loss to Rangers

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Apr 15, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Yusei Kikuchi deserved a better fate.

The Angels left-hander finally pitched the way they hoped when they signed him over the winter, but he got no support and the Angels lost, 4-0, to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Kikuchi gave up one run in six innings, the best of his four starts this season. He took the loss because the Angels’ hitters came up empty, and then the bullpen gave up three more runs.

The Angels had five hits and two walks. They also had a batter hit by a pitch.

Their best opportunity was in the fourth, when the Angels had runners at the corners with one out in a scoreless game. Travis d’Arnaud took a fastball down the middle for strike three, and then Nolan Schanuel struck out swinging.

The Angels didn’t get another runner into scoring position until the ninth inning, on their way to their first shutout loss of the season.

The Angels (9-7) have lost three of their last four games.

They’ve also lost all four games started by Kukuchi. They could have won all four of them, though.

In Kikuchi’s previous start, he gave up a first-inning grand slam on a ball that dropped over the short right-field porch at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field.

Kikuchi didn’t allow anything else. After that game, manager Ron Washington said they wanted to get see the Kikuchi who “bears down” from the first pitch, instead of after he’s gotten in trouble.

This time Kikuchi zipped through the Rangers’ order without much trouble. He only gave up three hits.

One of those was Leody Tavares’ bunt single leading off the sixth. Tavares stole second and went to third when catcher d’Arnaud’s throw bounced into center field.

Tavares scored the only run against Kikuchi on a fly ball that left fielder Taylor Ward caught with a leap at the fence.

Through his first four starts, Kikuchi has pitched exactly six innings each time, with a 4.13 ERA.