Los Angeles Angels right-hander Walbert Ureña had a fantastic first MLB start Sunday, and became the fourth player in Angels history to accomplish a rare feat.

Ureña struck out eight batters in his six-inning outing, becoming just the fourth pitcher in Angels history to do so in their first career start. The three players preceding him are Davis Daniel, who did so in 2024, Rudy May, who fanned 10 in 1965 and Bob Lee who matched Ureña’s eight in 1964.

Through his six innings of baseball, Ureña allowed just two runs to score, allowing four hits and two walks to go with his eight strikeouts.

Prior to Sunday, Ureña had made two appearances in MLB, both of which came against the Houston Astros earlier in the season. He threw 0.2 scoreless innings in his MLB debut, but allowed six runs—all scoreless— in his second outing against Houston two days later.

The Angels didn’t even have Ureña originally scheduled to start Sunday’s game, but moved Reid Detmers and Jack Kochanowicz back a day so they could recover from their lengthy outing against the New York Yankees earlier in the week.

Ureña came up from Triple-A the day before his start, with Sam Aldegheri making the trip back to Salt Lake in a corresponding move.

Whether or not the right-hander will remain with the Angels for the foreseeable future is unclear, but after he put together a fantastic outing against one of the best teams in MLB, the Halos may have no choice but to keep him around.

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