Hendricks' gem sets tone for Halos' season-high offensive night

ANAHEIM -- A night after one of their sloppiest losses of the year that saw them commit four errors and make several defensive misplays, the Angels cleaned it up in a big way on Tuesday.

Veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks set the tone by throwing seven scoreless innings and the offense broke out to score a season high in runs in a 12-2 victory over the Twins at Angel Stadium. It was the third scoreless outing of the year for Hendricks in 28 starts and was the most runs the Angels had scored since tallying 13 runs against the Astros on July 15, 2023. And all 12 runs were scored with two outs, marking the second time in franchise history the club scored that many runs with two outs. The first time occurred on April 14, 1962, at Minnesota.

“I don't want to downplay it, and the guys obviously came back in a big way, but it's kind of like we talked about, you don't want to get too high and you want to get too low,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “After yesterday, there was a correction there. There was a poorly played game, and we responded with a much better played game.”

Hendricks didn’t walk his first batter until the seventh inning but escaped trouble by inducing a double-play comebacker to end the frame. It was just the second time this year he completed at least seven innings, as he also went 7 2/3 frames against the Tigers on May 3.

Hendricks hadn’t thrown a complete game since 2021, but after a conversation with Montgomery and pitching coach Barry Enright, Hendricks was pulled after his seven strong innings.

“It was fun,” Hendricks said. “Stuff was good early, obviously it was down in the zone. Used my fastball well. Changeup was working off it. Mixed the curveball in when we needed to. And I had some good defense behind me. It was just a fun ballgame.”

The offense also finally woke up, as after scoring 11 runs against the Athletics on Aug. 17, the Angels hadn’t scored more than five runs in any game since and averaged just three runs per game over their last 22 contests. It was also impressive considering slugger Jo Adell was scratched from the lineup with vertigo.

“It's fun, you know?” said Chris Taylor, who had four RBIs. “It seemed like everybody had a good game. Everybody's happy. Obviously, the pitching side was unbelievable. Everything was working on that side, and then for us to put up some big numbers as an offensive we know what we're capable of. And I think we probably haven't been hitting as well as we would like the last few weeks or so. So I thought that was good for us.”

But the Angels scored early and often, including three times in the opening inning with Luis Rengifo coming through with a two-run single. Rengifo also stole second base as part of a double steal that allowed Taylor Ward to steal home after the throw to second. Rengifo also made two impressive defensive plays at second base behind Hendricks.

“It was both sides and we talk about it every day,” Montgomery said. “He’s been really good at second base. The base hits are nice too, because, again, like we talked about extending innings, those innings could end right there very easily, and they didn't. And recently he's been swinging the bat pretty good.”

The Angels broke it open by scoring twice in the fifth, four times in the sixth and three more times in the seventh. Taylor and Rengifo connected on back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth, but it was the long ball that helped them put the game away for good.

Taylor crushed a three-run blast to center field in the sixth and Yoán Moncada added a three-run shot of his own in the seventh.

“It's a testament to the guys for passing the baton down and never sort of getting out of the inning, getting out of their ABs,” Montgomery said. “If they don't do it, the next guy picks them up, and that kind of lends itself to a little bit of momentum.”