Jack Kochanowicz mowed through his first three innings against the Yankees on Monday night.
The 6-foot-7 sinkerballer was doing all of what manager Ron Washington asked of him before the game: pitch to contact and let his defense do the work.
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“Just be Jack,” Washington said. “Throw his sinker, change, eye-level, put the ball in play early — which is when he’s at his best. That’s what he does. So that’s all. I’m not looking for him to be nothing more than that, and if he’s that, it’ll be good enough.”
Nine up, and nine down on 28 pitches — Kochanowicz looked “good enough.” He was hurling just as efficiently as he did against the Dodgers on May 16 when he limited the Angels’ Southland foes to just one run across 6 ⅔ innings. As he jaunted to the mound for the fourth, the crowd woke up, rising in volume; but not for Kochanowicz.
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“Let’s go, Yankees,” the fans in the right-field seats of Angel Stadium bellowed, much like the “Bleacher Creatures” would back in the Bronx. First baseman Ben Rice singled, and then center fielder Trent Grisham did too. Following a rousing ovation, designated hitter Aaron Judge — who upped his batting average to a league-high .398 — loaded the bases on an infield single.
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As Yankees fans roared louder, Kochanowicz hiccuped. The sophomore starting pitcher walked Cody Bellinger on four pitches to bring in a run, and two batters later, Anthony Volpe hit a bases-clearing double off the center-field wall to power the Yankees (33-20) to a three-run lead. It was more than enough to take down the Angels (25-28), who struggled to string together hits for the third consecutive game in a 5-1 loss to open the series.
“Always just comes down to pitch calling,” Kochanowicz said. “It’s very easy to ask yourself a million questions about every pitch you throw, but I think I just — I came at them hard that inning. I didn’t start anyone off with the breaking ball. So that was probably it.”
Shortstop Zach Neto led off the bottom of the first with a 440-foot solo home run to center field — the longest of his career — but it was all the Angels had to offer at the plate. Before the game, Washington called his offense young and inconsistent.
The Angels offered more of those characteristics against the Yankees and left-hander Ryan Yarbrough.
Outside of a fluke infield single from Jo Adell, Neto’s home run was all the…