ANAHEIM, Calif. — Making his second career start on a full week’s rest for the first time in his big league career, Victor Mederos showed plenty of encouragement in the Angels 4-1 loss to the Reds Monday night.
Despite giving up 3 runs and nine hits tonight, Mederos fought to keep the Angels in the ball game through five innings of work with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks.
Mederos came into tonight’s game off a solid outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week, where he went 4 innings while giving up only 3 runs and 3 hits.
The start of tonight’s game was one he probably didn’t envision happening after giving up two runs following five pitches.
The game’s first hit came after Mederos’ second pitch when TJ Friedl opened hit a leadoff single on a 95 mph sinker in the lower outside part of the strike zone. Three pitches later, Mederos left a changeup hanging on the outside part of the strike zone. Gavin Lux made him pay.
Lux gave Mederos a welcome to the big leagues moment by clobbering the ball 387 feet over the right field wall for a two-run homer.
Mederos had Lux in a 0-2 count before misplacing his changeup.Â
“I just left the changeup up,” Mederos said. “Just a mistake pitch. He took advantage of it.”
After the home run, Mederos gave up two more hits to the next three batters he faced. But when Jose Trevino came up to the plate, Trevino looked like he was about to take him deep as well, but the ball slowed down as it flew above the grass in left field and would end up landing in Taylor Ward’s glove to end the inning.
Mederos did not give up another run in the next three innings he pitched, but left four runners reach base. Two of them were for hits, including a leadoff triple by Austin Hays in the third after Ward looked to have slipped on the outfield grass when attempting to make a play on the ball. The other hit was a line drive single by Lux. The other two baserunners reached safely courtesy of a walk.
After some rocky innings, Mederos left the mound showing some frustration but was able to keep his composre the next time he went back out there.
“I just felt like my execution wasn’t where I wanted it to be,” Mederos said. “I felt like I was kind of falling behind on guys and just leaving a couple pitches too hittable. But just being able to get out of those, it was great.”
After the early two-run homer by Lux, the Angels got Mederos one run back in the first when Ward hit an RBI double to score Nolan Schanuel from second and advance Mike Trout from first to third. The Angels offense went quiet after the play when Yoán Moncada lined out to a double play.
Paige Creason – The Sporting Tribune
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout (27) runs during the MLB game against the Cincinnati Reds Monday August 18th, 2025 at Angel’s Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.
In the fifth, Mederos got himself into another battle after Elly De La Cruz led the inning off by hitting a line drive to right field for a leadoff triple.
For most players, the hit De La Cruz made would’ve been a double, but with his speed, he nearly glided like a gazelle across the basepaths to get himself into scoring position early on. He then scored in the next at-bat when Austin Hays hit a sacrifice fly to give the Reds their third run of the night.
“Anytime you’re dealing with guys like Elly who can run the way he can run it’s a risk,” Angels manager Ray Montgomery said. “It puts pressure on the defense and the offense and obviously the pitchers have to work a little bit harder.”
With a clean slate on the basepaths, Mederos was looking to reduce the damage in the inning by getting the next two batters out. Instead, He gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with only one out.
With the bases loaded, Mederos faced Ke’Bryan Hayes and got him to pop out at first. In the next at-bat, he did the same thing to Matt McLain to end the inning without letting it get away from the Angels.
Mederos’ night came to an end after getting out of the jam in the fifth.
“It’s good to just be able to compete. That’s my biggest part,” Mederos said. “… It’s just a matter of learning what I gotta do. Learn what I gotta fix and just be better.”
The Angels’ pitching battled in the next two innings after Mederos left, as Andrew Chafin and Jose Fermin combined for two innings. The Reds only earned one hit off Fermin in the seventh inning.
The bottom half of the seventh looked like a prime moment for the Angels to score after both Christian Moore and Luis Rengifo reached base safely.
Zach Neto worked a 1-1 count at the plate, then Connor Phillips threw him a 98 MPH fastball in the lower outside part of the strike zone. Neto swung at the ball and drove it deep, but the ball didn’t carry enough and landed in Friedl’s glove to end the inning.
During the seventh, Rengifo came in as a pinch hitter for Bryce Teodosio. Rengifo remained in the game and took over at center.
Rengifo has been known as the Angels’ utility man over the last couple of years, but is fairly new to playing in the outfield. Tonight was the fifth time in his career that he has played out in center.
“I needed to see what Louie looks like in center field
In the first at-bat of the eighth, Hayes hit a laser towards center field,” Montgomery said. “We’ve given him some opportunity out there in pregame to see what it looks like.”
Rengifo played the ball shallow and made a jumping attempt to catch it, but was unable to make the play, resulting in the third triple of the night for the Reds.
“In that situation, it didn’t work,” Montgomery said.
“That’s a tough play. I wouldn’t say that’s the end of his center field,” Montgomery said. “We gotta work at it. We gotta have that option.”
Hayes scored following a sac fly in the next at-bat to increase Cincinnati’s lead to 4.
After the sac fly, Carson Fulmer got the next two batters out to minimize the damage.
Fulmer retired the next three batters he faced in the ninth, but the Angels’ offense went down 1-2-3 to end the game.