The Angels will play their home opener Friday evening against the Boston Red Sox, seeking to extend a four-game winning streak that has lifted them into a share of the lead in the American League West with the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers.
The Angels opened the season with 11-3 and 13-4 losses to Baltimore last week, won the finale of the three-game series, 4-1, then swept a three- game series in Miami from the Marlins, baseball's last winless team.
The game is Ron Washington's debut as Angels' manager at Angel Stadium.
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The team's second consecutive 73-89 season prompted the Angels to decline the option on manager Phil Nevin's contract and later replace him with Washington, the Atlanta Braves' third base coach for the previous seven seasons.
Washington managed the Texas Rangers from 2007-14, guiding them to American League pennants in 2010 and 2011.
The Angels have nine new coaches, with bench coach Ray Montgomery the only returning coach from 2023.
The Angels' 26-man roster consists of 20 players who played with the team last season and six newcomers, five players signed as free agents -- pitchers Adam Cimber and José Cisnero, Luis Garcia, infielder Miguel Sanó and outfielder Aaron Hicks -- and one acquired in a trade, pitcher Guillo Zuñiga, obtained from St. Louis in exchange for cash considerations.
"We have a ball club that's growing," Washington told City News Service before Tuesday's game in Miami. "Every single day we come to the ballpark we learn something and that's what baseball is about, constant growing and constant learning."
The only rookie is first baseman Nolan Schanuel, who has reached base in all 35 games to begin his major league career, the third-longest streak to begin a major league career behind Alvin Davis, who reached base safely in his first 47 games with the Seattle Mariners in 1984 and Truck Hannah, who reached base safely in his first 38 games with the New York Yankees in 1918.
At the other extreme is third baseman Anthony Rendon, who is hitless in 19 at-bats. No MLB player has more at-bats without a hit in 2024.
Griffin Canning will pitch for the Angels Friday, trying to rebound from allowing five runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts in five innings and was charged with the loss in the 13-4 defeat Saturday.
The 27-year-old is 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings with a 1-0 record in two career starts against Boston, including pitching seven scoreless innings and limiting the Red Sox to two hits and was the winning pitcher in a 4- 0 victory May 23.
The former Santa Margarita Catholic High School and UCLA standout was 7-8 with a 4.32 ERA in 24 appearances, including 22 starts, in 2023.
Fellow right-hander Kutter Crawford will pitch for Boston, making his first career start against the Angels. He has a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings in three relief appearances against the Angels, with 10 strikeouts and one walk. Mike Trout walked in his only plate appearance against the 28-year-old Crawford.
Crawford did not figure in the decision in his 2024 debut, allowing an unearned run and three hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking one in Seattle's 4-3 10-inning victory Saturday. Crawford retired 15 of the final 16 batters he faced, walking the other.
The Angels' 4-2 record matches their record through six games last season when they were 1-1 in Shohei Ohtani's first two starts as a pitcher and he hit two home runs and drove in six runs. Trout and Taylor Ward share the team lead with three home runs with Ward driving in a team-high eight runs.
The Red Sox (5-2) have also won four consecutive games. Their 1.54 ERA is the best in MLB and the team's lowest through seven games in the live ball era, which began in 1920.
Pregame ceremonies will include 150 active and veteran local military service members will unfurl a 300-foot American flag while Jill Marie Burke performs the national anthem. Two F-15C Eagles from the 144th Fighter Wing of the California Air National Guard will fly over the stadium during the anthem.
Former Angel pitcher Jered Weaver will throw the ceremonial first pitch to his son Aden, who is named in honor of Nick Adenhart, an Angel pitcher who was among three people killed in a crash involving a drunken driver on April 9, 2009, a few hours after he was the Angels' starting pitcher.
The 6:38 p.m. game will be televised by Bally Sports West.
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