Jack Kochanowicz pitched 7 2/3 innings to get his first major league win, Kevin Pillar hit a three-run double, and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Washington Nationals 6-4 on Sunday.
Los Angeles avoided losing all three games of the series in Washington, which was their first visit there since 2017. They ended their road trip with a 3-3 record, which began in New York against the Yankees.
The Nationals gave up 13 walks, matching their highest number since moving to Washington in 2005. The Angels scored four runs from those walks, stopping the Nationals from getting their fourth series sweep of the season.
“A lot of good decisions, good choices,” said Los Angeles catcher Matt Thaiss, who reached base five times, including three walks. “Especially in an 11:30 (a.m.) game, a lot of people come out swinging and make some early outs. It showed some grit today by the boys.”
Kochanowicz (1-2) made his third career start, and it went much better than his previous two last month, where he allowed 12 runs over seven innings.
Recalled from Double-A Rocket City on Saturday, the right-hander retired the first eight Nationals batters before Nasim Nuñez reached on an infield single.
The Nationals started the fourth inning with a double and a walk, which led Angels manager Ron Washington to visit the mound and give Kochanowicz a break while sharing a simple message.
“In this business, you don’t make adjustments until you have to,” Washington said. “What you’re doing is working. Why would you start doing something else? Keep it going. They’ll tell you when you have to adjust. And he did. I was just really impressed with his confidence.”
Kochanowicz pitched through seven innings on 72 pitches before Jacob Young hit a homer to left field to start the eighth. The rookie was taken out after Luis García Jr.’s two-out RBI single. He gave up two runs, six hits, and one walk while striking out two.
“Every time out, I feel more comfortable,” Kochanowicz said. “It’s the same stuff: trusting myself and feeling more comfortable as it goes.”
The Nationals scored twice in the ninth inning against Ben Joyce, who got Juan Yepez to hit into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded to stop the rally.
In the fourth inning, the Angels had runners on first and third with no outs when Jo Adell hit a sharp grounder to third baseman José Tena, who seemed to injure his right hand.
After initially stopping, Brandon Drury scored on the error, and Tena had to leave the game a day after making his debut with the Nationals and hitting the game-winning hit in the 10th inning.
MacKenzie Gore (7-10) then walked a batter and got a double-play grounder that allowed one run to score. Gore walked two more batters, and Pillar hit a three-run double to left field to make it 5-0.
Los Angeles added another run in the seventh inning when Michael Stefanic got the last of the Angels’ four walks against Jordan Weems.
Gore gave up five runs — all unearned — in four innings. He walked a career-high six batters and allowed five hits. The left-hander did not pitch past the fourth inning for the fourth time in seven starts since July 6.
“He has to get ahead to stay ahead,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “He has good stuff. We have to keep stressing it. Mechanically, today I thought he looked fine. The ball was coming out well. It was the constant 3-2, 3-2, 3-2, and foul, foul, foul and then walking guys.”
Washington also allowed 13 walks as a team on August 10, 2008, in a 13-inning loss at Milwaukee.
