ANAHEIM — Griffin Canning continued his early-season turnaround on a night when the Angels finally put everything together.
Canning pitched six strong innings in the Angels’ 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, a game that included home runs from Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto and Taylor Ward.
The Angels (16-28) snapped their three-game losing streak with one of their best all-around performances of the season.
Canning gave up one run, improving his ERA to 1.53 over his last three starts. He has dropped his season ERA from 7.45 to 5.12.
Canning said one of the improvements he’s made recently has been focusing on simply winning the competition against the hitter, as opposed to thinking about what mechanics can produce the perfect pitch.
Sure enough, Canning faced a few big moments in which the game required him to win a key confrontation.
In the first inning, Lars Nootbaar doubled with one out, but Canning then struck out Paul Goldschmidt and got Nolan Arenado on a grounder.
Canning got left-handed hitting Brendan Donovan on a fly ball in the fourth, stranding two runners. The Cardinals had a runner at second with one and the top of the order due in the fifth, but he retired Matt Carpenter and Nootbaar to escape.
Canning ended his night by striking out Donovan on a changeup, his fifth strikeout of the night.
Relievers Matt Moore and Luis Garcia, who were two of the pitchers who participated in the eight-run nightmare inning that cost the Angels Monday’s game, got through the seventh and eighth. Garcia gave up one run.
Even though the Angels had a five-run lead, closer Carlos Estévez pitched the ninth because he had not pitched in the previous four days and the Angels are off on Thursday.
Canning and the relievers had a cushion because the Angels jumped on Cardinals right-hander Lance Lynn early.
Schanuel led off the game with his fourth homer.
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Luis Guillorme, who was criticized by Manager Ron Washington for his failure to execute a suicide squeeze the previous night, dumped a single into left field. It was the first of his two hits, to go along with a walk.
An out later, Willie Calhoun drove him in with a double, which was the first of his three hits. Calhoun is hitting .319 in his first 12 games with the Angels.
Calhoun scored on Kevin Pillar’s infield hit. Pillar then scored on a wild pitch, giving the Angels a 4-0 lead.
Neto hit his fourth homer of the season in the sixth inning, putting the Angels up 5-1. An inning later Ward hit his eighth homer to pad the lead.
More to come on this story.
