Series preview: Angels escape Florida and travel to Kansas City

What started out as a great series in Florida to take on the Blue Jays quickly turned into a mess. The Angels lost by 14 runs on Saturday and their game got rained out on Sunday. Dexter Fowler is out for the season with a torn ACL and Anthony Rendon is a little banged up.

It’s luckily time for a new series, as the Angels travel to Kansas City to take on the 4-3 Royals.

Monday: Alex Cobb (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Brady Singer (0-1, 13.50 ERA)

Alex Cobb was supposed to start on Sunday but his start was pushed back a day. After a solid spring for the Halos, Cobb had a decent debut in his first start. He went six innings, allowing three runs while striking out seven. 71 percent of his pitches were for strikes and he only issued one walk, having solid command all night. This will be his fifth career start at Kauffman Stadium, a place he’s struggled throughout his career as he owns a 5.06 career ERA there.

Things didn’t go as smoothly for Brady Singer in his season debut, as he was roughed up for six runs in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings in his season debut last week. He did strike out five in his limited action, but he did also issue three walks and allow five hits. As a rookie in 2020, the 24-year-old went 4-5 with a 4.06 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. He finished eighth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

Tuesday: Dylan Bundy (0-0, 3.75 ERA) vs. Danny Duffy (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Dylan Bundy will be making his third start for the Angels on Tuesday, and he’s already building off a solid 2020 campaign. Through two starts so far, he’s gone 12 innings, pitching six innings in both his outings. He’s struck out 16, including 10 during his last outing. More importantly, he’s issued only three walks.

Danny Duffy has made only one start so far this season, but it was a pretty good one. In his first outing against Cleveland, Duffy threw six scoreless innings while allowing only two hits. He also struck out five. This is remarkably already Duffy’s 11th season in Kansas City. This will be his eighth career start against the Angels, and they are one of the teams he’s done pretty well against. He’s 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA against them for his career.

Wednesday: Griffin Canning (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. Brad Keller (0-1, 19.29 ERA)

Griffin Canning had an okay first outing. He showed glimpses of looking really good, but some things just didn’t go his way. You look at his box score and see seven strikeouts and only three hits allowed, so you’d immediately think that was a fantastic start. However, two of those three hits were home runs, and he allowed four runs in only 5 ¹⁄₃ innings of work. If you take out those home runs, it was a very encouraging season debut for the 24-year-old.

Meanwhile, it’s been the opposite for Brad Keller. He’s had two very forgetful outings to begin his season. The righty has thrown a combined 4 ²⁄₃ innings between two starts and has allowed 10 runs on 15 hits. He’s also issued five walks. I will say this, things can only go up from here for Keller. Well, at least you’d think so. The Angels offense is more than capable of doing severe damage, so we’ll see how his ERA looks after this matchup.