Halos win 8th straight, set records -- but their eyes are on more

ANAHEIM -- Yusei Kikuchi finally has his first win as an Angel.

Despite a strong start to his tenure with the club, Kikuchi didn’t pick up his first victory until his 11th start of the year on Friday night. He threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the offense remained hot, as the Angels rolled to a 7-4 win over Miami in the series opener at Angel Stadium, giving them eight straight victories.

Kikuchi, who joined the club on a three-year deal worth $63 million, improved to 1-4 with a 3.17 ERA this season.

"Glad I finally got that first win,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima “I don't think many people read too much into that, I hope, these days. But glad I got my first one under my belt.”

Kikuchi was backed by yet another impressive showing from Taylor Ward, who tied a club record by recording an extra-base hit in his ninth straight game. It matched Darin Erstad’s streak set from April 7-18, 1998. Ward homered to right off right-hander Sandy Alcantara in the second and added a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

"Taylor got us on the board,” manager Ron Washington said. “When you think about who he was facing tonight, this guy's a tremendous pitcher. Even though he's coming back from Tommy John, he's still a tremendous pitcher. But Taylor got us started with the opposite-field home run that let us know that he wasn't invincible."

Ward is now up to 15 homers on the year, tied for fifth in the Majors with Arizona’s Corbin Carroll. He passed Logan O’Hoppe for the team lead, though O’Hoppe also chipped in with an RBI double in the fourth. Jorge Soler also homered in the eighth, giving the Angels at least two homers in seven straight games -- a new club record.

"It’s sick,” O’Hoppe said of Ward’s streak. “I'm really grateful my locker is next to him, because I've learned so much just from picking his brain about hitting. He's helped me have better at-bats, too, but conversations with him and seeing how clear his head is and his ability to work through things is pretty impressive.”

It helped the Angels keep their winning streak alive, as they reached the .500 mark (25-25) for the first time since they were 12-12 on April 24. It’s their first eight-game win streak since they won 10 in a row from Sept. 4-13, 2014. They’ve also won 12 of 17, while averaging six runs per game over that span.

"We're happy to see it, especially after whatever the record was when it wasn't going well,” O’Hoppe said. “It's a good sign. I think it's a good reflection of this group. But we've got some more to take care of.”

Kikuchi set the tone, scattering seven hits and four walks, but had trouble with his efficiency. He threw a career-high 110 pitches, topping his previous high of 106 set in 2019 and matched in '21. He went back out for the sixth on 92 pitches and promptly gave up back-to-back singles. Washington met him at the mound, but Kikuchi talked his way into staying in the game and got Nick Fortes to ground into a double play on the very next pitch.

But after he walked Derek Hill and Jesús Sánchez to load the bases, the Angels went to veteran Hunter Strickland. Strickland retired pinch-hitter Liam Hicks on a groundout on a nifty play from shortstop Zach Neto to keep the Marlins scoreless and get out of the jam.

"That was huge because that ball twisted off the end of his bat,” Washington said. “But he picked it up like it was a routine play and threw a perfect strike to first.”

The offense did the rest, as the Angels tacked on three runs in the sixth after loading the bases with nobody out. It wasn’t exactly pretty, as Soler reached on catcher's interference, Travis d’Arnaud was hit by a pitch and Luis Rengifo plated a run with a sacrifice fly to get the job done. The Angels scored six runs (five earned) in 5 1/3 innings against Alcantara, the NL Cy Young Award winner in '22, but now has an 8.04 ERA in 10 starts since missing last year with Tommy John surgery.

"We needed every single run, and we’ve just got to keep it going,” Washington said. “We're not going to start thinking about what other records we can break. We're just going to play baseball and prepare to come out and win a game.”