ANAHEIM, Calif.—Mickey Moniak hit a three-run home run and Griffin Canning pitched 6 2/3 strong innings in the Los Angeles Angels’ 10–1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4, finishing his two-game return to Angel Stadium 1 for 8 with an RBI triple and two runs scored on Tuesday.
Taylor Ward homered in his third straight game, and rookie Niko Kavadas also went deep in the long-struggling Angels’ second victory over the major league-leading Dodgers in their past 14 meetings. The rivals split the four-game Freeway Series this season.
Bobby Miller (2–4) had another rough outing for the Dodgers, who lost for only the fourth time in 16 games. He yielded seven runs on five hits—including the three homers—and three walks over five innings despite striking out eight.
“It’s kind of hard to put into words, but recently I’ve been feeling really good, and I still felt really good today,” Miller said. “Besides the first inning, there was a lot of good in there. Just a couple of good fastball hitters. Just a couple of bad pitch selections.”
Miller has spent all summer attempting to regain the form of his impressive rookie season, and he seems increasingly unlikely to be in the Dodgers’ postseason plans after allowing 17 earned runs in four starts since returning from the minor leagues to patch another hole in his club’s injury-plagued rotation.
Manager Dave Roberts sounded disappointed in the Dodgers’ young right-hander, although he said Miller will start again next week.
“I don’t think they sequenced well tonight,” Roberts said of Miller and catcher Austin Barnes. “I don’t think they used his secondary pitches the right way to protect the fastball. Very predictable to an aggressive, fastball-hitting team. ... Where we’re at right now with certain players, Bobby in this particular case, performance matters. It’s just got to be better. He knows that. You just can’t come out there and give up five runs and put us behind the eight-ball.”
Canning (5–12) had another high point in his up-and-down season, yielding four hits and four walks while striking out seven and holding the Dodgers scoreless until the seventh. The victory was Canning’s first since Aug. 4.
“Canning was outstanding. Tonight was about him,” Angels Manager Ron Washington said. “Good fastball, moving it around. Good off-speed stuff.”
The Angels’ first five batters reached base and scored. After Anthony Rendon bounced a bases-loaded single up the middle to score two runs, Moniak hit Miller’s next pitch to deep right field.
Kavadas added his second major-league homer in the second inning.
“It would be nice to finish the rest of the season swinging the bats [like that],” Washington said.
Ward connected for his 21st homer of the season in the fifth inning, putting the Angels up 7–0 while extending his hitting streak to a career-best and current American League-best 14 games. Late in a largely disappointing season, Ward has homered in four of his past five games.
The Dodgers pulled Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, and Miguel Rojas in the late innings, giving them a few extra innings of rest ahead of Thursday’s day off.
Andy Pages finally chased Canning with an RBI single in the seventh, driving in his first run in nearly three weeks.
Ward, Jo Adell, and Zach Neto added RBI singles for the Angels in the eighth.
Trainer’s Room
Dodgers: Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is set to return to the rotation Tuesday after missing nearly three months with a right-arm injury, Roberts said.Up Next
Dodgers: No starter has been announced for the opener of a six-game homestand Friday against Cleveland.Angels: Jack Kochanowicz (2–3, 4.96 earned-run average) is scheduled to start Thursday at Texas in the opener of a four-game series against the Rangers.
