ANAHEIM, Calf. — It wasn’t an easy task on Friday night but he made it happen. After seven starts to the season, Yusei Kikuchi earned his first win of the season.
Kikuchi led the Angels to a 7-4 victory where he threw a career high 110 pitches in 5 ⅔ innings, with four strikeouts, four walks, while giving up zero runs tonight. Kikuchi’s outing tonight has led the Angels to their eighth straight victory for the first time since they won 10 in a row in Sept. 2014.
“Glad I finally got that first win,” Kikuchi said. “Obviously wins and losses I don’t think people read too much into that these days I hope but just glad I got the first win under my belt.
With tonight’s victory over the Marlins (19-30), the Angels (25-25 are .500 for the first time since April, 24.
“One thing I’ve learned in my career is that the success can be just as toxic as failure sometimes.” Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe said.
“We’ve got back to zero.” Angels manager Ron Washington said.
In all seven of his starts this season, Kikuchi for the most part has kept the Angels in those games, having a 3.50 ERA coming into tonight. The Angels however, could never pull it together to keep him in position to earn the victory. He was close to getting his first win on Sunday but the Angels gave up 3 runs in the seventh inning against the Dodgers.
Tonight, was a different night. Kikuchi had just four strikeouts, both came from his fastball and slider in the first, second, and third innings. His slider was used 38% of the time while his fastball was used 30%. Washington credited the usage of his curveball tonight, getting Marlins batters to pop out or ground out all night long.
Kikuchi gave up a total of five groundouts, but his most important probably came in the sixth inning for a double play.
“I thought he battled out there today,” Washington said. “He didn’t have his best stuff. He didn’t have his slider the way he wanted it to be. But he went to his curveball.”
Already having over 90 pitches in the sixth, Kikuchi’s only inning where he struggled was the sixth. He started it off by giving up two straight singles. Angels manager Ron Washington came out for a mound visit to settle him down.
Settling him down worked.
“I was just letting him know he couldn’t let this get away from him. He came too far. And we needed him to finish that sixth inning.”
With Nick Fortes up at the plate, Kikuchi needed one pitch, throwing a curveball to get him to hit into a double play.
After the double play, he walked the next two batters and was pulled from the game. Hunter Strickland came in for relief and got the only batter he saw tonight to ground out.
Kikuch had run support from two of the hottest hitters on the Angels over the last week. First, it was Taylor Ward, then it was Logan O’Hoppe.
Paige Creason – The Sporting Tribune
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward (3) celebrates after hitting a home run during the MLB game against the Miami Marlins Friday May 23rd, 2025 at Angel’s Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.
The two combined for two hits and three RBIs tonight.
Ward got things going first for the Angels’ offense by hitting a solo home run to begin the second inning. Ward has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball as of late and extended a nine-game multi-base hit streak to nine games, tying Darin Erstad for the franchise record.
In the fourth inning, the Angels had consecutive grounders hit towards right field for singles by Nolan Schanuel and Yoán Moncada. Moncada’s single advanced Schanuel to third. In the next at-bat, the Angels extended their lead to two after Ward hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Moncada would score next.
After the Angels showed that they could use small ball and produce for their offense, Logan O’Hoppe had other plans by mustering up some muscle and hitting the ball deep to left field, off the outfield wall for an RBI double. It was his 12th RBI over the last seven games and was also his fifth extra-base hit during this stretch.
Paige Creason – The Sporting Tribune
Los Angeles Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe (14) celebrates after hitting a double during the MLB game against the Miami Marlins Friday May 23rd, 2025 at Angel’s Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.
Following Kikuchi’s departure, the Angels added on three more insurance runs in the sixth by capitalizing on mistakes by Miami.
The Angels loaded the bases quickly in the inning after Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara loaded the bases by giving up two walks and a double by Moncada. During Jorge Soler’s at bat, a catcher’s interference call was made. Two at-bats later, Travis d’Arnaud was hit by a pitch. Luis Rengifo finished the inning off by hitting a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Soler. Alcantara was only charged for one earned run that inning.
Miami rallied in the seventh inning after Shaun Anderson gave up a homer to Eric Wagaman and a double to Kyle Stowers. Anderson had two runners on the basepaths and two outs after the double, but stayed calm on the mound and got Matt Mervis to strike out and ended the inning. Wagaman remained a problem in the eighth inning notching two more RBIs from a single to left field to make the score 6-4.
Paige Creason – The Sporting Tribune
Los Angeles Angels right handed pitcher Shaun Anderson (64) delivers a pitch during the MLB game against the Miami Marlins Friday May 23rd, 2025 at Angel’s Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.
The Angels got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning after Jorge Soler helped set a team franchise record by making it seven straight games where the Angels hit at least two homers.
With Kikuchi earning his first win of the season and giving up zero runs tonight, his ERA is now at 3.17, the lowest it’s been all season.
“We’ve got back to zero.” Washington said.
Game Notes
Before today’s game, Mike Trout took batting practice at Angels Stadium. Ron Washington said Trout’s trajectory to return to the lineup is still on the right track and expects him to run the bases soon. If he is okay running the bases, he would be cleared for a return back to the Angels. Washington also added that they might have minor league pitching come out and pitch to him as well.