Nick Madrigal, Wade Meckler lead Angels' 16-hit explosion against Rockies
ANAHEIM - This wasn't the lineup that you would expect to produce one of the Angels' best offensive games of the season.
Powered by four hits apiece from Nick Madrigal and Wade Meckler, the Angels snapped their three-game losing streak with an 11-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
Only four players from the Opening Day lineup were starting on Wednesday. Four of the replacements – Madrigal, Meckler, Donovan Walton and José Siri – were not even on the 40-man roster two weeks ago. They combined for 10 hits, with Walton and Siri collecting one apiece.
"It just looked like guys weren't trying to do too much," Manager Kurt Suzuki said. "Weren't trying to hit the ball over the fence. Everybody isn't trying to hit homers. It was keep the line moving, quality at-bats, quality at-bats. It was fun."
Ironically, the only starters on Wednesday who didn't have hits were Mike Trout and Jorge Soler, and they each walked. Soler left the game with left hip irritation in the fifth inning. Soler said he doesn't think he'll need to go on the injured list.
Trout was one of two players who barely missed a home run. He and Oswald Peraza were each robbed of homers by leaping Rockies outfielders.
Vaughn Grissom was the only one to get a ball over the fence, with a two-run homer, his fourth of the season.
Scoring so many runs without a homer demonstrated an approach the Angels (24-39) have tried to implement over the past two weeks.
The Angels were hitting .225 with a 26% strikeout rate after they were nearly no-hit on May 18. Since then, they've hit .263 with a 21% strikeout rate. In the last 15 games they've scored 88 runs, which is the second most in the majors over that span.
"We're cutting down the strikeouts and balls are being put in play and we're making guys make plays," Grissom said. "It feels great for everyone to find a groove, finding little holes here and there. It's sick."
The explosion started in the second inning, with four consecutive hits from Walton, Madrigal, Siri and Logan O'Hoppe. By the time the inning ended, the Angels had scored six runs on six hits.
Grissom's homer in the fourth added two more. Jo Adell, who was out of the starting lineup for the first time all season, came off the bench to replace Soler, and he delivered an RBI single in the fifth. Peraza and Madrigal drove in runs in the sixth.
The Angels had seven hits with runners in scoring position, a season high. Their 16 hits equaled a season high.
"We're moving the ball forward," Suzuki said. "Battling with two strikes and using the big part of the field, and not everybody is not just trying to hook everything. I feel like we're using the whole field and just taking what the pitcher gives us, not trying to hook the slider for a homer down the line. It was like take your base hits, move runners over, get runners in. It was impressive by the guys."
All the run support was overdue for Walbert Ureña, who had just two victories because the hitters hadn't done much in his starts.
Ureña picked up victory No. 3 on a night when he gave up three runs in six innings.
Ureña began the game with three hitless innings. He gave up an RBI double in the fourth and a two-run homer in the fifth, two of the three hits he allowed. Ureña finished strong, with a perfect sixth inning that ended with his seventh strikeout on his career-high 99th pitch.
Ureña has become the Angels' most consistent starter. He's allowed three runs or fewer in eight of his nine starts. He has a 2.68 ERA.
"He started off really good, kind of hit a little speed bump, and we talk about the maturity, figuring out how to get it done," Suzuki said. "Gave up the homer obviously. Aggressive first pitch thrown. Then went right back at it and gave us six strong innings. I thought it was good."
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 9:35 PM.