Lowe’s two-strike homer capitalizes Johnson’s strong outing in win over Mariners

ANAHEIM, Calif. — It took Josh Lowe 104 games and 312 plate appearances to use his first-ever ABS challenge, and it worked quite well in his and the Angels’ favor. 

With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning in a tie ballgame, Lowe watched the first pitch slider go by. Home plate umpire Brian Walsh called it a strike, but Lowe tapped his helmet and initiated a challenge. Lo and behold, the pitch was low and inside, and it flipped to a 1-0 count. 

Now starting ahead in the count, Lowe worked into a 2-2 count, where right-hander Logan Gilbert left a splitter at the bottom of the zone for Lowe to golf off the wall and over the yellow line on the right field wall for a go-ahead solo home run, which ended up being the difference in the Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday night. 

“It helps a lot,” Lowe said of flipping a 0-1 count to 1-0 on the challenge. “I felt like I challenged it because I thought that was pretty blatant, but, putting myself in a good position to hit and get a good pitch in that count, that time of the ball game is big.”

Lowe by far had the most plate appearances without any challenges on the Angels heading into Tuesday. He chases out of the zone more than the league average, but still maintains a walk rate that is barely below league average. He could challenge more, but Lowe wants to be sure it’s the right moment.

“I went and looked at all the potential challenges that I’ve had and I would personally say most of the opportunities that I would have to challenge pitches aren’t in a spot that I thought was necessary,” Lowe said. “I’d try and save that for a big inning, whether it’s hitting or pitching, it can change an entire bat, change an entire game. So I haven’t had many where I really thought it was that bad, maybe one or two that I would go back and challenge, but for the most part, just situationally, I don’t think it really makes sense.”

Lowe’s solo shot made the difference in this one because of another strong outing from right-hander Ryan Johnson. 

Johnson tossed six innings of one-run ball while striking out seven batters and not allowing a walk. It’s the second time all season, and the first since June 29 that Johnson didn’t allow a walk. 

“That’s a big one for me,” Johnson said of not allowing a walk. “It’s an emphasis that I want to have. Really take the work that puts into commanding the ball. I think that’s a good step. It’s one that I hold myself to a high standard to. I haven’t been achieving that as of late, but it’s good to get it tonight.”

He set the tone from the jump, throwing his first 16 pitches of the night for a strike and retiring the side in order in the first two innings. 

Johnson ran into some trouble in the third inning when a pair of infield singles and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with two outs, but he got out of it by getting Dominic Canzone to pop out to Zach Neto. 

“It’s the confidence, being up here a little bit now, having some starts under the belt,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said of Johnson’s improvement with runners on base. “He’s able to slow the game down and trust his stuff. I think he’s believing in his stuff now. I think that has a lot to do with it.”

Canzone was the only runner to score off Johnson when he led off the sixth inning with a triple on a ball that he hit to the warning track in center field that Mike Trout missed on his jump into the wall. Julio Rodríguez hit an RBI double to score Canzone. 

It’s another installment into Johnson’s stretch of dominance, as he now has a 2.03 ERA in his last eight starts. He’s lowered his ERA on the season from 7.63 to 4.88 in this stretch.

“That might be the best game he’s pitched this year, honestly,” Suzuki said.

The rest of the Angels’ bullpen also didn’t allow any walks, making it the fourth time this season that the Angels didn’t surrender a walk in a game, with three of them coming in the last month.