A.J. Alexy allowed one hit in six shutout innings to lead the Texas Rangers to a 4-0 win against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday evening in Anaheim, Calif., and a split of the teams’ four-game series.
Alexy (2-0) ran his shutout streak to 11 innings to start his major league career. He blanked the visiting Colorado Rockies on one hit over five innings in a 4-3 win in his debut on Aug. 30.
The right-hander is the first rookie to pitch at least five shutout innings and allow one hit or fewer in each of his first two major league starts.
Alexy struck out seven, including all three batters in the sixth inning, and walked two during his 85-pitch outing. He retired the final 13 batters he faced.
Angels right-hander Jaime Barria (2-3) got off to a rocky start but also settled in and retired 14 in a row during one stretch. He gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings, struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.
The Rangers quickly took the lead. Yonny Hernandez led off the first inning with a single, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was hit by a pitch and DJ Peters delivered a one-out RBI single on the fifth pitch of the game for a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers put their leadoff batter on base again in the second when Yohel Pozo singled. He came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Hernandez for a 2-0 lead.
The Angels put their first two runners on base in the bottom of the second, but Brandon Marsh hit into a double play, and after a walk, Luis Rengifo flied out to shallow left.
Pozo reached on a one-out single in the seventh, ending a streak of 27 straight batters retired by both teams. Jose Trevino grounded a two-out double just inside the third base line to drive in Pozo and make it 3-0.
Trevino added another RBI single in the ninth for a 4-0 lead.
Brett Martin came on for Alexy in the seventh and stranded two runners before Spencer Patton pitched around a one-out double in the eighth. Joe Barlow pitched the ninth to complete the shutout.
–Field Level Media