Caden Dana became the youngest pitcher in Angels history to win his major league debut as Los Angeles came back to win 3-2 against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. “That’s pretty cool hearing that,” Dana said.
The right-hander gave up two runs and two hits in six innings. At 20 years and 259 days old, he is the youngest Angels pitcher since Francisco Rodríguez in 2002 and the youngest starter since Frank Tanana in 1973.
Dana (1-0) is also the first pitcher in his major league debut to pitch at least six innings and allow two or fewer runs at his age or younger since Jordan Lyles of Houston on May 31, 2011, against the Chicago Cubs (20 years and 244 days).
This is the first time in the American League since Joel Davis of the White Sox on August 11, 1985, against Milwaukee at 20 years and 215 days.
“He didn’t let any inning affect how it was going and it shows he has some poise. He proved to himself he can pitch in the big leagues,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He made pitches when he had to. He used his fastball, wasn’t able to land his breaking ball as consistently as he wanted to, but landed them when he needed.”
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.
“It’s awesome. That was special. Everyone behind me played well,” said Dana, who struck out four and walked four. “It was a good feeling getting a win like that. Getting a win like that helps going into the next outing.”
Luke Raley homered for Seattle, which fell to 5-4 since Dan Wilson replaced Scott Servais as manager on August 22. Bryce Miller (10-8) allowed three runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Dana, who led Double-A with 147 strikeouts, played in the MLB Futures Game in July and is seen as the Angels’ top pitching prospect. Drafted in the 11th round in 2022, Dana had a record of 9-7 with a 2.52 ERA in 23 starts for Rocket City before being called up on Friday.
“Honestly, I was really nervous and after that first pitch, that was when all my nerves kind of released. Getting the two quick outs definitely gave me confidence to trust myself,” Dana said.
He threw 52 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Dana walked two batters in a row with two outs in the fifth inning before striking out Victor Robles to end the inning.
“I thought he had enough secondary stuff to kind of complement the fastball and kept us off stride just enough,” Wilson said. “He got deep enough into the game that their bullpen was able to take over.”
Ben Joyce pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fourth save.
Dana retired the first five batters he faced before Raley hit a fastball down the middle 433 feet into the left-center stands to tie the game at 1. Raley has hit six of his 16 homers since August 1.
The Angels scored quickly when Ward hit his second leadoff homer in three games. The ball just cleared the wall in center field after Julio Rodríguez mistimed his jump. It was Ward’s 19th homer, one short of the team lead.
Seattle’s Josh Rojas led off the third inning with a ground-rule double down the left-field line. He moved to third on Leo Rivas’ grounder and scored on Robles’ sacrifice fly to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead.
The Angels took back the lead in the fifth inning. Rendon hit a single to left that drove in Ward and Zach Neto after Rivas missed a diving catch at shortstop on the low liner.
