Angels', Phils' starters both began season in relief

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels have faced more decisions about their pitching staff in 2017 than any team could feasibly consider normal.

Suffice to say that most of the planned rotation has spent the season on the disabled list, and the bullpen has been a non-roster invitee extravaganza.

One move made out of some desperation worked: JC Ramirez, a career reliever who had never made a major league start and whose last start in the minors came in 2011, was asked to make the conversion virtually overnight. He already had two wins in relief when he was summoned to start.

With two months left in the season, Ramirez is 9-9 with a 4.29 ERA, leading the team in wins. The Angels are 11-9 in his 20 starts, and 10 of them have been quality efforts. He has thrown 116 2/3 innings as a starter this season, this after 111 consecutive games as a reliever.

"It's been a big transition," Ramirez, who pitches Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies, said after his most recent home start. "As a reliever, the preparation was to be ready to go in any game and focus on throwing strikes.

"Being a starter has changed the way I prepare for a game -- more running, more lifting, more studying of the hitters. I feel pretty good. I actually feel stronger now than I did in the years I spent in the bullpen."

Ramirez, who turns 29 this month, looks as if he has staying power. He has pitched in relief against the Phillies four times, producing a 2.70 ERA.

Rookies Parker Bridwell and Alex Meyer have distinguished themselves this season in similar situations, since neither was in the team's plans during spring training.

Philadelphia was as active as any team in the majors in the week leading up to the trade deadline. The Phillies traded away four players, three of them pitchers. The starter who stepped in for Jeremy Hellickson when he was in the process of leaving hopes to make the most of the opportunity the next two months.

Jake Thompson, who will start Wednesday against Los Angeles, made his debut in 2016, going 3-6 with a 5.40 ERA. Called up Friday for his first major league start of the season, he pitched five shutout innings, picking up a win as Philadelphia beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3.

Thompson (1-0, 4.50 ERA) made three relief appearances for the Phillies in May, allowing five runs in five innings before getting optioned back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

A prospect who has been traded twice -- the Phillies acquired him when they dealt Cole Hamels to the Texas Rangers in July 2015 -- Thompson would like to make Philadelphia his long-term baseball home.

"Usually when you have a start, you're thinking about it for four days," Thompson, who has never faced the Angels, said after the win over the Braves. "I didn't have time to actually think about it. I was just hanging out in my chair and then they told me to grab my cleats."