Jack Kochanowicz has rough start in Angels' loss to Guardians

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Jun 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CLEVELAND — Jack Kochanowicz continues to tease Los Angeles Angels fans with his potential and torture them with his inconsistency.

The 24-year-old right-hander did both during what turned out to be a rough outing in the Angels’ 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday afternoon.

After getting through the first two innings with ease, Kochanowicz allowed four runs in the next 1 2/3 innings. He saw his ERA climb to 5.34 through 12 starts, a figure that raises the question about his worthiness for a spot in a big league rotation.

Anyone who wants to see the bright side — or to look through the lens of long-term development — can see flashes of brilliance though.

Four starts ago, Kochanowicz dominated the Dodgers in a victory at Dodger Stadium. Last week, a defensive mistake behind him and one bad pitch cost him four runs in one inning against the New York Yankees, but he retired 17 of 19 hitters he faced in the other six innings.

Kochanowicz induces groundouts at an elite level, using a heavy sinker. The problem is he doesn’t strike out many hitters, so more balls in play will find holes.

And this season, he’s also lost the control he showed last year. Kochanowicz walked 10 batters in 65 1/3 innings last season. This year, he’s already walked 32 in 44 innings.

On Sunday, a leadoff walk to No. 8 hitter Gabriel Arias in the third inning was the first sign that things were going off the rails. Thanks to a double play, he escaped the inning with just one run scoring.

In the fourth, Kochanowicz gave up a leadoff homer to Guardians start José Ramirez, who has hit five of his 11 homers against the Angels. After a Kyle Manzardo single, Kochanowicz struck out the next two.

He couldn’t get the third out, though.

Kochanowicz walked a batter, hit a batter and then gave up a two-run single. After another walk, his day was done. Right-hander Connor Brogdon stranded all three runners to prevent further damage to Kochanowicz’s line.

Hunter Strickland then held the Guardians over the next two innings, giving the Angels (26-32) a chance to get back in the game.

Zach Neto broke up Gavin Williams’ no-hitter with a single in the sixth. In the seventh, the Angels got a break. Logan O’Hoppe’s two-out grounder literally got through the glove of Arias, the shortstop, for an error. That opened the door for two runs, driven in by Luis Rengifo and pinch-hitter Mike Trout.

Yoán Moncada, also pinch-hitting, struck out to end the inning, stranding two runners. There was some delay in getting Moncada to the plate, so he was charged with a pitch-timer violation that started his at-bat with an 0-and-1 count.

The Angels didn’t get a runner in scoring position in the final two innings.

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