ANAHEIM, Calif. —The Angels’ forgettable season is ending with a too-little-too-late hot streak.
Mike Trout hit his 39th homer of the season and Trout, Livan Soto and Taylor Ward each had three hits as the Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 8-3, on Sunday afternoon.
The Angels have won seven in a row for the first time since April 2018. With three games to play, the Angels (73-86) have also ensured they will avoid their first 90-loss season since 1999.
None of that matters much, particularly since the hot streak has been against the Oakland A’s and Texas Rangers, who are both below the Angels in the American League West standings.
The Angels broke the game open immediately, with six runs in the first inning.
Trout singled, the first of his three hits, including a homer. Shohei Ohtani punched a hit into left, extending his hitting streak to 17 games. Taylor Ward followed with an RBI single.
Matt Thaiss drew a walk to load the bases, and then Logan O’Hoppe drew a bases-loaded walk for his big league RBI.
Livan Soto knocked in two with a double into the gap in left center. David Fletcher then drove in two more with a single.
Soto had his second straight three-hit game, improving his average to .413 and his OPS to 1.059 in the first 15 games he’s played after coming straight from Double-A to the big leagues.
Ward’s three-hit game continued his torrid month. His OPS is 1.113 since Sept. 5.
Despite all of those runs, left-hander Tucker Davidson couldn’t get through the five innings required for a victory.
He did not allow a run in his first four innings, but then he issued a walk, gave up a two-run homer to Corey Seager, and issued another walk, ending his day. He was charged with three runs in 4-1/3 innings.
Davidson ended up walking five, which was discouraging after a change in his delivery helped him get through his previous start without a walk.
