ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Tyler Skaggs and Mike Trout went into damage-control mode Sunday, the Los Angeles Angels left-hander delivering another bend-but-not break start and the center fielder avoiding serious injury on a violent collision with the wall in a 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers before 33,541 in Angel Stadium.
Skaggs was effective if not efficient, needing 107 pitches to complete six innings in which he allowed no runs, four hits, struck out six and walked three to improve to 4-4 with a 3.27 ERA.
Jim Johnson struck out two in a scoreless seventh, Noe Ramirez gave up a solo homer to Nomar Mazara in the eighth, and rookie right-hander Justin Anderson survived a shaky ninth in which he walked three batters _ all on full-count pitches _ before getting Isiah Kiner-Falefa to fly to right to end the game.
The Angels, who won two of three games in the series, managed only four hits off Texas starter Doug Fister and reliever Alex Claudio, but one was a two-run double by Luis Valbuena in the second inning, and one was a solo homer by Justin Upton in the sixth.
Trout gave the Angels a scare when he slammed into the left-center field wall after catching Delino DeShields' long drive in the fifth. Trout limped for a few steps, walked gingerly back to his position but remained in the game, rubbing and flexing his right knee for the rest of the inning.
Shin-Soo Choo followed Trout's catch with a double to right-center. Skaggs struck out Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Mazara looking, the latter with a looping 74-mph curve, one of several jams the left-hander extricated himself from.
Skaggs got Jurickson Profar to fly to center with two on to end the first and dug deep into his well of determination to escape a two-on, no-outs jam in the third.
Choo opened the inning with a double to right, and Kiner-Falefa walked. Mazara battled Skaggs to a 10-pitch duel, fouling off five two-strike pitches before whiffing on a 94-mph fastball. Adrian Beltre fled to right, and Profar line out to left to end the inning.
Skaggs' pitch-count stood at 97 through five innings. His bullpen overworked and underperforming for much of the past month, manager Mike Scioscia wanted to coax one more inning out of Skaggs, who responded with his breeziest inning, needing only 10 pitches to retire the side in order in the sixth.
Shohei Ohtani and Zack Cozart preceded Valbuena's double in the second with singles, Ohtani hitting a sharp grounder that first baseman Ronald Guzman couldn't handle and Cozart a line drive to right. Valbuena roped a full-count fastball from Fister into the right-field corner for a 2-0 lead.
The Angels tacked on in the sixth when Upton lined a solo homer to right, his 12th of the season and first in 16 games dating back to May 15 against Houston.
