Angels complete Freeway Series sweep of Dodgers
LOS ANGELES — The Angels, who have mostly struggled through the first quarter of the season trying to find their footing, finally showed what they believe they can be when they had their shot at the Dodgers.
Travis d’Arnaud’s tie-breaking eighth-inning home run sent the Angels on their way to a 6-4 victory over the Dodgers on Sunday, completing an unlikely sweep in the Freeway Series and prompting more optimism in the clubhouse than they’ve had in weeks.
“We just swept the best team in baseball,” Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “I think as a team, we can go into the next series with a lot of confidence.”
D’Arnaud, whose first homer of the season came shortly after the Dodgers had tied the game in the seventh on Will Smith’s three-run homer, said this series should send a message that the Angels (20-25) have potential.
“It’s tremendous,” d’Arnaud said. “Every game here felt like a playoff atmosphere. It felt like everybody was passing the baton, good at-bats up and down. Just a dog fight every single game. High stress. And we prevailed all three games. It’s really special against last year’s World Champions. I think it’s very good for our confidence moving forward, knowing we can beat anybody now.”
The Angels last swept the Dodgers in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium in June 2010. They swept a two-game series in July 2019.
The Dodgers (29-18) had not been swept in any series since last July in Philadelphia. They hadn’t been swept at home in a series since June 2023 by the San Francisco Giants.
The Angels hadn’t swept a series this season, and despite an early 4-0 lead, it looked like this one might get away. After right-hander Shaun Anderson gave up Smith’s homer, it was likely that most everyone in the crowd of 51,997 – even the cynical Angels fans – figured that the Dodgers were going to win.
With the Angels’ closer Kenley Jansen unavailable after pitching in the previous two games, it was up to Anderson to give them a chance. Manager Ron Washington said he told Anderson when he entered in the seventh that the game was his. Anderson bounced back from the homer in the seventh to retire all six in the eighth and ninth. He struck out Shohei Ohtani to end it.
“They’re the Dodgers,” Anderson said. “When we come in here and sweep, it kind of shows what the Angels have. It’s kind of hard to see with the record. But these guys put in the work every day… All these guys want to win. You could totally see it when you walk into the locker room. To see us rally the last three games and score in the first inning, it’s just a show of what we can do here.”
Kikuchi gave up one run in 5⅔ innings, eventually leaving after he was tangled up in a first-base collision with the Dodgers’ Tommy Edman. Kikuchi, who had thrown 98 pitches at that point, said afterward that his ankle was fine, and he would have stayed in the game if it had happened earlier.
Kikuchi had little trouble with the Dodgers for the first four innings. In the fifth, he gave up an RBI single to Ohtani, then loaded the bases with two walks. Kikuchi escaped by getting Freddie Freeman on a fly ball to left.
Kikuchi lowered his ERA to 3.50 after his 10th start of the season. Kikuchi was in line for his first victory of the season until Smith’s homer.
Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin had trouble early with a bloody finger.
“Just had some dead skin after the bullpen and tried to pick it off,” Gonsolin said. “Took some good skin with it. Just wouldn’t stop bleeding.”
When he was asked if that led to his rough outing, Gonsolin said: “I mean, potentially, but I don’t make excuses for myself like that. I still need to execute pitches, and I wasn’t doing that today.”
Gonsolin gave up Zach Neto’s third leadoff homer of the month. A few batters later, Gonsolin grooved a 2-and-0 fastball to Taylor Ward, who hit a two-run homer to straightaway center. It was the 12th homer of the season for Ward, who is 9 for 28 (.321) with four homers in his last seven games.
Gonsolin, who walked five, needed 97 pitches to get through four innings.
“I think with Tony today, it was a grind from the outset,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “You know, the walks behind the count. I don’t think he had command of a split, and it was a grind today. And so, you know, with the first-inning pitch count (29), we were fortunate to get him through four, but still, you know, with what we went through this series with the starters, there’s a lot of innings our ‘pen had covered, and that’s unfortunate. Still had a chance to win the game today, though.”
The Dodgers’ bullpen kept the Angels down until d’Arnaud’s homer against Anthony Banda. The Angels added an insurance run against Luis Garcia.