d'Arnaud delights with dinger off deGrom long before Halos' walk-off walk

ANAHEIM -- There’s nobody who has caught Rangers ace Jacob deGrom more times than veteran catcher Travis d'Arnaud.

He was his batterymate 60 times during their time together on the Mets from 2014-19, which is nearly twice as many times as any other catcher. So d’Arnaud has a good feel for deGrom’s elite stuff. He made use of it in a big way on Monday night.

d’Arnaud smacked a two-run home run off deGrom in the second inning and later added a game-tying RBI double off reliever Shawn Armstrong in the sixth. It helped set the Angels up for a walk-off walk from Nolan Schanuel in their 6-5 win in the series opener at Angel Stadium.

“I think getting lucky and hitting a home run off a Cy Young Award winner is really special,” d’Arnaud said with a smile. “I’m sure I’ll talk to him at some point.”

The Angels faced a tough task after being swept in Toronto over the weekend, as their flight home was delayed several hours Sunday night before they had to face deGrom. The All-Star entered with a 2.13 ERA and hadn’t allowed more than two runs in 14 straight outings.

Making things even more difficult was that Yusei Kikuchi, who was also named an All-Star on Sunday, struggled early. The lefty yielded a two-run homer to Corey Seager in the first inning and two more runs in the third.

“I didn’t have my best stuff, but the team really picked me up,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. “It just turns out that [d’Arnaud] always seems to get the big hits and he’s pretty clutch in games that I'm pitching.”

The Angels had a good approach against deGrom from the start, as Zach Neto led off the first inning with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Mike Trout.

In the second, Jorge Soler doubled with one out, but Luis Rengifo grounded out for the second out.

That brought up d’Arnaud, who got ahead in the count by taking two sliders down and away. He then got a slider over the heart of the zone and didn’t miss it. d’Arnaud ripped it to left for his fifth homer of the year, giving the Angels a 3-2 lead.

It was the first time deGrom allowed three runs through the first two innings of a start since the Athletics scored four runs in the first inning on Sept. 24, 2022.

“If you watch the replay, I got lucky and got a pitch to hit,” said d’Arnaud, who also homered against deGrom in 2020. “And [the hitting coaches] just made sure I kept things simple and just tried to hit the ball in the sweet spot. And I got rewarded. So I think I got lucky more than anything.”

d’Arnaud wasn’t done after deGrom exited after five innings. Again, he came through with two outs after Rengifo singled. He jumped on a 1-2 sweeper from Armstrong that hung over the middle and brought Rengifo home with a game-tying double to left-center.

Three pitches later, on an 0-2 fastball, pinch-hitter LaMonte Wade Jr. gave the Angels the lead with an RBI single to center.

“The last series, we weren't getting those big hits but we were still getting on the bases and still having the opportunities, which I think is important,’ d’Arnaud said. “But today, we were able to prevail, which is a huge step for us.”

The Angels were able to prevail despite Sam Bachman giving up the tying run in the eighth on a two-out double from Josh Smith. The Angels loaded the bases in the ninth with one out as Rengifo doubled, Kevin Newman singled and Neto was intentionally walked.

It set the stage for Schanuel, who battled lefty Hoby Milner to come through with the club’s first walk-off walk since Chone Figgins in 2008, which was the longest active drought in the Majors. It was the second game-winner for Schanuel, who also hit a walk-off single on June 10.

“It’s just as exciting,” Schanuel said. “It’s awesome to work an at-bat like that after getting set up by the guys in front of me.”

Interim manager Ray Montgomery had to watch from his office after being ejected for the first time in his career in the eighth for arguing balls and strikes.

“It’s much harder to watch it from the inside than being in the dugout,” Montgomery said. “But great job by Schanuel and the boys for picking us up.”