Caden Dana became the youngest pitcher in Angels history to win his major league debut as Los Angeles rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
Taylor Ward extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a leadoff homer and Anthony Rendon provided the go-ahead hit with a two-run single in the fifth inning.
Dana (1-0) gave up two runs and two hits in six innings. At 20 years and 259 days old, the right-hander was the youngest Angels pitcher since reliever Francisco Rodríguez in 2002 and youngest starter since Frank Tanana in 1973.
Luke Raley homered for Seattle, which dropped to 5-4 since Dan Wilson replaced Scott Servais as manager on Aug. 22.
Bryce Miller (10-8) gave up three runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Dana, who led double-A with 147 strikeouts, appeared in the MLB Futures Game in July and is considered the Angels’ best pitching prospect. An 11th-round pick in the 2022 amateur draft, Dana went 9-7 with a 2.52 ERA in 23 starts for Rocket City before being called up Friday.
He struck out four Sunday, throwing 52 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Two of his four walks came in the fifth inning with two outs before he fanned Victor Robles to get out of the inning.
Angels teammates Taylor Ward (3) and Zach Neto (9) celebrate after scoring against the Mariners on a single by Anthony Rendon in the fifth inning Sunday.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
Ben Joyce worked a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.
Dana retired the first five hitters he faced before Raley connected on a fastball down the middle and drove it 433 feet into the left-center stands to tie it at 1-1. Six of Raley’s 16 homers have come since Aug. 1.
The Angels quickly got on the board when Ward hit his second leadoff homer in three games. The shot to center just got over the wall after Julio Rodríguez mistimed his jump. It was Ward’s 19th homer, one off the team lead.
Seattle’s Josh Rojas led off the third with a ground-rule double down the left-field line. He advanced to third on Leo Rivas’ grounder and scored on Robles’ sacrifice fly to put the Mariners up 2-1.
The Angels regained the lead in the fifth. Rendon put them on top with a single to left to drive in Ward and Zach Neto after Rivas was unable to make a diving catch at shortstop on the low liner.
Short hops
The Angels will host the Dodgers in a two-game Freeway Series beginning Tuesday. Left-hander Reid Detmers (3-6, 6.14 ERA) will make his first big league start since June 3.