ANAHEIM, Calif. — Noah Syndergaard stepped onto the Angel Stadium field in bare feet Saturday afternoon, strolling through the outfield grass and around the dirt of a bullpen mound in an effort to soak up negative ions, which are supposed to increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, resulting in higher alertness and more mental energy.
It’s part of a pregame ritual that Syndergaard incorporated in his winter workouts with fellow Angels pitcher Michael Lorenzen, their daily regimen including low-impact conditioning drills and jogging on the sand in Newport Beach.
“It just feels good under your feet,” Lorenzen said. “We’re pretty earthy. We’re kind of hippies a little bit, I guess. Yeah, peace and love, brother.”
A few more efforts like Saturday night, when Syndergaard blanked Houston on two hits over 5 1/3 innings of a 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros, and Angels pitchers might start taking the field for stretch in tie-dye shirts and Birkenstocks.
Syndergaard, who signed a one-year, $21-million deal in November and was limited by Tommy John surgery to two innings in the last two seasons, was not dominant in his Angels debut, but he was effective and efficient, throwing strikes on 49 of his 76 pitches.
Mixing a fastball that averaged 94.5 mph with an 88.8-mph changeup and 83.8-mph slider, Syndergaard struck out only one, walked two and recorded 11 ground-ball outs to outduel Astros right-hander Justin Verlander, who also missed most of the last two seasons because of Tommy John surgery.
Verlander, the 2019 American League Cy Young Award winner, gave up one run and three hits in five innings, striking out seven and walking three.
Jared Walsh (second inning) and Mike Trout (eighth) hit solo home runs, and relievers Aaron Loup, Ryan Tepera and Raisel Iglesias combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings to help push the Angels to their first win of the season.
Syndergaard took the mound wearing No. 34, the first time that number has been worn by an Angels player since Nick Adenhart, who was a promising 22-year-old pitcher when he was killed by a drunken driver 13 years ago Saturday.
The 6-foot-6, 242-pound right-hander breezed through the first inning, needing only eight pitches to retire the side in order. He gave up a two-hit single and a walk in the second before getting Jason Castro to ground out to first. He got Jose Altuve to ground into a double play after Chas McCormick’s leadoff single in the third.
Syndergaard retired six of seven batters in the fourth and fifth and was pulled in favor of Loup, a left-hander, after a one-out walk in the sixth. Loup recorded three outs in the sixth and seventh, and Tepera, who gave up two solo homers in Thursday night’s opener, got five outs in the seventh and eighth.
The Angels opened the season with two losses, their bullpen, which was expected to be vastly improved, getting torched for 13 runs and 15 hits, six of them homers, in 9 1/3 innings, and many fans taking to social media to trash them.
“I don’t follow Twitter, and that’s exactly why,” Walsh said before the game. “I think we live in a very quick-response society, so we’re gonna be playing every day for the next six or seven months. We’re in it for the long haul.”
Walsh was in it for the long ball Saturday night. He crushed a first-pitch, 93-mph fastball from Verlander over the wall in right-center field for a solo homer in the second and a 1-0 lead.
So was Trout, who drove a 99-mph fastball from reliever Ryne Stanek 445 feet over the left-center field wall for a 2-0 lead in the eighth.
Jo Adell wasn’t in the starting lineup for the second straight game, but manager Joe Maddon said it was more of a matchup-driven decision than one based on Adell’s struggles at the plate and in the field.
Adell struck out in his first five plate appearances of the season. He misjudged a double over his head in left field Thursday night and had a throw to the plate hook about 45 feet up the first-base line.
“I just saw him a couple of days ago, and he looked like a rookie-of-the-year candidate, so give him a little time,” Maddon said. “He’ll be fine. It just seems like everything is a bit quick right now, but I’m watching him, and his foot and stride are fine, his bat speed is good. He’s fouling off his pitch, and then we’re getting a little bit of a chase.”
