Angels explode for five in the first on the way to rare easy win

ATLANTA — There have not been many games in this forgettable Angels season like this one.

The Angels scored five runs in the first inning and cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon.

“It felt great,” said Taylor Ward, who started the scoring with a homer. “Hopefully we can keep this rolling into tomorrow. That was very fun.”

It was the first time since May 14 that the Angels had led by four runs in the first three innings of a game, and it ended up being their most lopsided victory since that day, when they went on to beat the Oakland A’s 9-1.

Since then, the Angels have struggled, including 14 losses in their last 16 games. They lost the first two games in this series against the defending World Series champions by a combined 12 runs.

This, however, was a rare day when just about everything went right.

Reid Detmers worked five scoreless innings, only his pitch count preventing him from going deeper.

Detmers has allowed two runs in 17 innings in his three starts since returning from a brief demotion to Triple-A. Detmers said he rediscovered his slider when he made a small change after going to Salt Lake.

“I’ve made a couple tweaks, and ever since I made those tweaks I fell back to normal,” Detmers said. “Those small little tweaks, you won’t think anything of, it’s changed a whole lot.”

He had a five-run lead before he threw his first pitch, thanks to the Angels’ first five-run inning since June 5.

Ward blasted a one-out homer, his first homer since July 2. It gave the Angels their first lead in 46 innings.

Jared Walsh then dropped down a bunt to beat the shift. Luis Rengifo pulled a single into right field. Max Stassi singled into left field. Jo Adell dropped a bloop hit into right field.

Phil Gosselin walked. Brandon Marsh hit a bases-loaded grounder to first baseman Matt Olson, who could only get one out, at second. Andrew Velazquez then singled off the glove of shortstop Dansby Swanson. Six hits in the inning matched the Angels’ season high.

“It’s been happening a lot against us,” manager Phil Nevin said of the early offensive outburst. “It was just nice to see us jump out of the gate like that. We jumped on pitches we should hit early. Didn’t miss them. Against a good pitcher. (Ian) Anderson’s a good pitcher. He has been for a couple years now. And we were able to just put some good swings on and put some balls in play and make things happen … I liked a lot of things today.”

The Angels padded the lead with three more in the fourth, including the second hits of the game for Ward and Rengifo.

Detmers, meanwhile, did not allow his first hit until the fourth inning, but he gave up two hits and a walk in the fourth and needed 28 pitches to get three outs.

Detmers got through the fifth with the help of a diving catch by Adell in left field. Adell had struggled in the outfield all season. Nevin had moved him to right field hoping that it would help, but on Sunday he moved him back to left.

“Great catch,” Nevin said. “Got a good jump on it. Took a good route. That’s not an easy play, moving to the line, especially the way he’s moved around the outfield now.”