The Angels’ Travis d’Arnaud is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to the plate during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi loses his glove and flips over as he tries to field a ball hit by the Texas Rangers’ Sam Haggerty during the first inning on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi loses his glove and flips over as he tries to field a ball hit by the Texas Rangers’ Sam Haggerty during the first inning on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi loses his glove and flips over as he tries to field a ball hit by the Texas Rangers’ Sam Haggerty during the first inning on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi loses his glove and flips over as he tries to field a ball hit by the Texas Rangers’ Sam Haggerty during the first inning on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi loses his glove and flips over as he tries to field a ball hit by the Texas Rangers’ Sam Haggerty during the first inning on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Texas Rangers’ Corey Seager hits a two-run home run during the first inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Texas Rangers’ Corey Seager hits a two-run home run during the first inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Texas Rangers’ Corey Seager (5) is greeted by Manager Bruce Bochy, left, at the dugout steps after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom throws to the plate during the first inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Zach Neto (9) is greeted in the dugout after scoring on a sacrifice fly by teammate Mike Trout during the first inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to the plate during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to the plate during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom throws to the plate during the third inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Travis d’Arnaud hits a two-run home run during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Travis d’Arnaud rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Travis d’Arnaud is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to the plate during the first inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to the plate during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Texas Rangers’ Sam Haggerty is greeted in the dugout after scoring on a single by teammate Adolis Garcia during the third inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom walks off the mound following the fifth inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels relief pitcher Victor Mederos throws to the plate during the sixth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels relief pitcher Victor Mederos throws to the plate during the sixth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Travis d’Arnaud scores the go-ahead run on a single by LaMonte Wade Jr. during the sixth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery looks on from the dugout during the seventh inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Texas Rangers’ Jake Burger is greeted in the dugout after scoring a game-tying run during the eighth inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Luis Rengifo runs the bases after hitting a double during the ninth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, left, takes the ball from relief pitcher Chris Martin as he replaces him during the ninth inning of a game against the Angels on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Nolan Schanuel (18) celebrates with teammates after he drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning of their 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Angels’ Nolan Schanuel (18) celebrates with teammates after working a bases-loaded walk to drive in the winning run in the ninth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
The Angels’ Nolan Schanuel, center, celebrates with teammates after working a bases-loaded walk to drive in the winning run in the ninth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe douses teammate Nolan Schanuel with a cooler of sports drink after he worked a bases-loaded walk to drive in the winning run in the ninth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Show Caption
1 of 33
The Angels’ Travis d’Arnaud is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 7, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
ANAHEIM — Nolan Schanuel now knows the feeling of coming through with a big swing, and coming through with a big take.
The Angels first baseman drew a bases-loaded walk to drive home the winning run in their 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night, giving him a walk-off walk to go with a walk-off hit last month.
“It’s just as exciting,” Schanuel said, comparing the two. “It’s awesome.”
The victory was full of clutch moments for the Angels (44-46), who needed a palate-cleanser after losing three one-run games in a frustrating weekend in Toronto. They were 4 for 30 with runners in scoring position against the Blue Jays, and could have won each of the games with a late hit.
“The last series, we weren’t getting those big hits, but we were still getting runners on the base and still having the opportunities, which I think is important,” said catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who had a couple of clutch hits on Monday. “We were in every game right till the end in Toronto. We’re still going to fight to the last out and and today we were able to prevail, which is a huge step for us.”
The Angels overcame deficits to take the lead in the second and sixth innings, but each time the Rangers came back, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth with the score tied.
Luis Rengifo led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, his second hit of the game. An out later, Kevin Newman punched a single into left, sending Rengifo to third. The Rangers intentionally walked Zach Neto to load the bases for Schanuel. They then brought in left-hander Hoby Milner to face the left-handed hitting Schanuel.
Schanuel quickly fell into an 0-and-2 hole after two foul balls. He took a couple of pitches in the dirt and then fouled one off, working the count full. The final pitch was a couple of inches outside. Schanuel excitedly tossed his bat toward the dugout as the Angels celebrated their first walk-off walk since 2008.
“First two pitches, I was swinging early, and then after that, I kind of had to take a deep breath, calm down and kind of let him come to me,” Schanuel said. “You don’t want to get too amped up. Try to slow everything down a little bit, because as a hitter, you’ve still got to get your pitch. That’s just kind of what I did.”
Prior to Schanuel’s clutch walk, the Angels came up with a few big hits, starting with d’Arnaud’s two-run homer against two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom in the second inning, which put the Angels ahead, 3-2.
“If you watch the replay, I got lucky and got a pitch to hit,” said d’Arnaud, who was deGrom’s primary catcher when they were with the New York Mets.
The Angels worked deGrom hard and got him out of the game after just five innings, trailing 4-3. One of their more productive innings was one in which they didn’t even score. They saw 35 pitches from deGrom in the third, and the last one was a bases-loaded 3-and-2 pitch to Jorge Soler which was called a strike even though it was barely outside.
(The frustration from that pitch bubbled over a few innings later, when interim manager Ray Montgomery was ejected after arguing a called third strike on Mike Trout.)
Once deGrom was out, the Angels were able to take the lead against the Rangers’ bullpen.
Rengifo singled in the sixth and scored on d’Arnaud’s two-out double, tying the score. LaMonte Wade Jr., who slumped in his first weeks with the Angels and now barely plays, then lined a single into center to knock in d’Arnaud with the go-ahead run.
The Angels needed another rally because they gave up that lead in the eighth.
Sam Bachman seemed to have the final out of the inning on a strikeout, but the ball got away from d’Arnaud far enough that he couldn’t throw out Jake Burger at first. Bachman then gave up a game-tying double to Josh Smith.
The Angels took Bachman off the hook in the same way that they bailed out starter Yusei Kikuchi on a night when he wasn’t sharp. Kikuchi gave up a two-run homer to Corey Seager in the first inning, and he needed 31 pitches to get the first three outs of the game.
In the third, Kikuchi gave up three hits and a walk, allowing another two runs. Third baseman Chad Stevens got a glove on two of the hits, with dives to each side, but he couldn’t make either play.
Kikuchi still managed to tack on two more scoreless innings after that, getting through five innings on 97 pitches.
“I didn’t have my best stuff,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter, “but the team really picked me up today. Big win overall.”
Originally Published: July 7, 2025 at 9:47 PM PDT