Walbert Ureña gave the Angels seven shutout innings Thursday night, striking out a career-best nine Twins as Los Angeles outlasted Minnesota, 5-4, in 10 innings at Angel Stadium.
The result
Ureña was in command from the start, allowing four hits and no walks across seven innings. He left with a lead after the Angels scored three times in the first against Minnesota right-hander Taj Bradley, but the rookie did not receive the decision.
Moisés Ballesteros and Denzer Guzman opened the scoring with consecutive RBI singles, and Oswald Peraza added another two-out RBI single in the inning.
The Twins finally erased the advantage in the ninth when Ben Joyce surrendered a two-run home run to Walker Jenkins with two outs. Minnesota moved ahead in the 10th, only for Mike Trout to answer with a tying RBI single. Wade Meckler then ended the night with a walk-off single.
Ureña’s seven-inning turn
The 22-year-old threw 91 pitches, 62 for strikes, and got ahead early against 19 of the 25 hitters he faced. His fastball averaged 100.1 mph, while his sinker averaged 98.8 mph and his changeup came in at 92.1 mph.
That mix produced 22 swinging strikes, surpassing his previous season high of 18 in a start. The changeup accounted for 12 misses, the sinker for nine and the four-seamer for one.
Minnesota had consecutive two-out singles in the first, but Ureña struck out Emmanuel Rodriguez to strand the threat. He then retired six straight, five on strikeouts.
The Twins put another runner in scoring position in the fifth. Jenkins singled with one out, moved to second on Ben Ross’ grounder, and watched Luke Keaschall ground out to end the inning. Ureña closed his outing by retiring the final eight Minnesota hitters, including two strikeouts in the seventh.
A rookie season gathering weight
Ureña lowered his ERA to 2.74 through 28 appearances, including 26 starts. In 144 1/3 innings, he has struck out 140 while walking 67. His recent command has been notably cleaner, with only three walks over his last four outings combined.
Among MLB rookies with at least 100 innings, Ureña’s ERA trails only Cleveland starter Parker Messick, who owns a 2.57 mark in 178 1/3 innings. Ureña has now made 16 starts this season in which he has permitted no more than one run, the most by a pitcher age 22 or younger since Dwight Gooden in 1985.
The ninth-inning home run kept Ureña from a deserved win, but it did not change the shape of his night: premium velocity, a usable changeup, a full strike zone and seven innings that gave the Angels every chance to finish the job.
