Angels beat Rangers 9-3 – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Zach Neto and Taylor Ward hit home runs, Tyler Anderson threw two hits over seven innings and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Rangers 9-3 on Friday night, giving Ron Washington a win in his first game as visiting coach in Texas.

Neto broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Angels the lead with his two-run home run in the fourth, a 405-foot drive to right field for the fifth time this season.

Anderson (4-4) had four strikeouts and two walkouts.

Washington is the winningest manager in Rangers history with 664 wins from 2007 to 2014 and led them to their first two World Series in 2010 and 2011. He is in his first season with the Angels (17-28), his first managerial job since Texas.

Jonah Heim and Marcus Semien went deep for Texas, which has lost seven of its last nine games.

At 23-23, the reigning World Series champion Rangers posted a .500 record for the eighth time this year. They have won each of the last seven times to avoid a losing record which they have not had at any point since Bruce Bochy became their manager before last season.

Left-hander Andrew Heaney (0-5), who played for the Angels from 2015 to 2021, had five strikeouts, two walks and allowed three runs (two earned) in 3 2/3 innings. That was his shortest start of the season.

Willie Calhoun achieved a career high with four hits, all singles. He drove in a run with his hit in the fifth and then scored on batter No. 9 Kyren Paris's two-run single. Ward's ninth home run was a solo shot in the sixth to give him a 7-1 lead.

Calhoun made his major league debut with the Rangers from 2017 to 2022, playing in just his 13th game for the Angels.

TRAINER ROOM

Angels: 3B Luis Rengifo was back in the lineup after missing 10 games with a viral infection. He doubled in his first at-bat, then had a walk and a stolen base in the third inning before running home from second base when Kevin Pillar got an infield single on a checked swing and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe got one Mistake on his throw made it home.

Rangers: Right-handers Nathan Eovaldi (right groin strain) and Dane Dunning (right rotator cuff strain) both pitched bullpen sessions. Dunning is expected to have another session on Sunday and could return to the rotation as early as next week's series in Philadelphia. Eovaldi is a little further back. … Rookie OF Evan Carter, who had missed the last five games with lower back stiffness, suffered a pinch hit in the ninth.

NEXT

Right-hander José Ureña is making his third start for Texas after going 1-1 with a 2.31 mark in his first two games, while Nathan Eovaldi and Dane Dunning are on the injured list. Left-hander Patrick Sandoval (2-6, 5.00 ERA) pitches for the Angels in the middle game of the series on Saturday.