After taking two out of three against the Seattle Mariners and taking game one of a three game set against the Texas Rangers, the Angels looked to clinch the series with Jaime Barria on the mound for the Angels. With the Angeles pitching not living up to expectations, the story of the night was Cuban American and 2022 first round selection Zach Neto who went one for three, but that one hit was a two-run homer to extend the one-run lead that the Angeles had.
With the 13th selection of the 2022 MLB Draft, the Los Angeles Angels selected shortstop Zach Neto out of Miami, FL. Quickly making his way up to the minors, the 22 year old forced the call up to the big leagues just months after being drafted. After a nice start in the month of April, but slowing down a bit in the month of May, Neto has heated up in the month of June and has even placed himself into the All-Star conversation as he is sixth in the fan vote amongst American League shortstops.
On Tuesday, in the top of the ninth inning with one out in the inning, the Angels were leading 4-3, but against the best team in the AL West, the Texas Rangers, so no lead is safe against them. On a 1-2 count, reliever Jose Leclerc threw a 96.1 MPH fastball right in the zone for Neto to crush the baseball 396 feet into the air with a 100.0 MPH exit velocity and give Los Angeles a 6-3 lead and eventually, Brandon Drury smacked an RBI single to extend the lead, 7-3 and give the Angels their second straight series win, and against a Division rival.
On the other end, Cuban slugger Adolis Garcia had a rough night at the plate going 0-5 with two strikeouts. With the loss for the Rangers, they drop to 41-25, which still keeps them at the top of the AL West. As for the Angels, they move to 38-31, which is still third place in the AL West, but just 4.5 games from the Rangers.
For Texas, they roll with Andrew Heaney who has a 4.14 ERA on the season. As for the Angels, they go with Reid Detmers who has a 4.79 ERA. The Angels will go for the sweep which will help out their case in the standings if tie-breakers are needed to be implemented late in the season.