Griffin Canning feels like ace in the making in 5-2 win over Tigers

No one is saying Griffin Canning is the Angels’ savior, nor are they suggesting that he is the team’s number 1. What literally everyone is saying (and if you aren’t, then you are lying by omission) is that Griffin Canning will be the savior and new number 1 soon enough.

In all seriousness though, the Tigers are not a good team. Canning, however, made them look like a very, very bad team. With 7 strikeouts and 1 walk across 5.1 innings pitched, ears had every right to perk up. But he was better than that line even suggests. Witness:

18 whiffs. Eighteen. Canning threw 86 pitches, which means that he had a 20.9% swinging strike rate today. That is insane.

He had only one hit allowed through 5 full innings. That one hit was very arguably an error on Andrelton Simmons.

Need I remind you this guy was making his professional debut in Inland Empire just over a year ago?

Canning tired in the 6th. Luke Bard, Ty Buttrey, and Hansel Robles stamped out any hope of a comeback by Detroit.

Meanwhile, Ohtani made his comeback as the offense took on a dreaded lefty. Nobody looked particularly great, but the team as a whole looked solid and came through when necessary to back Griffin for his first ever MLB win. Expect to see many more of these easy victories.

* In defense of Andrelton, can we just talk about how incredible this play was?