ANAHEIM -- After struggling in his Angels debut against the Mariners last week, left-hander Tucker Davidson fared much better with one of the best outings of his young career against the Twins on Sunday.

Davidson, acquired in the deal that sent Raisel Iglesias to the Braves at the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline, threw six strong innings to lift the Angels to a 4-2 win at Angel Stadium. Davidson, ranked as the club’s No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline, walked one and allowed four hits, including a two-run homer to Byron Buxton in the first inning, but settled down from there.

"My slider was really good today,” said Davidson, who picked up his second career win and his first with the Angels. “It had the same shape as it was earlier in the season and it's made a lot of progress. I felt like I had better direction today in my mechanics. It's something I've really focused on the last week. Just trying to go more toward home plate and not falling off toward third base."

It was an encouraging start for Davidson, who gave up six runs over four innings in his last outing in Seattle and entered with a 7.91 ERA in 19 1/3 innings this year. The 26-year-old worked on altering his pitch grips with the help of pitching coach Matt Wise, and his slider and changeup were much better against Minnesota.

Davidson threw his slider 35 times, getting seven swings and misses with the pitch, while also throwing his four-seamer 35 times and getting one whiff. But he did locate his four-seamer for seven called strikes to help him get ahead in counts. He also mixed in six changeups, which is a pitch he’s been working on with Wise.

"He had his slider and landed a couple good changeups,” interim manager Phil Nevin said. “He's really been working on that changeup with Wiser, who is terrific at teaching that pitch. He threw some really good ones today. It's more of a look [for the hitters] and it's in their head now."

He was also mostly efficient, as he threw 87 pitches through six innings, the latter of which tied a career high set on May 18, 2021. Tucker hadn't gone more than five innings in any of his five outings this year.

It looked like it might be another tough outing for him after he walked Carlos Correa in the first and then gave up a two-run homer to Buxton on a 1-0 curveball over the heart of the plate. But to his credit, he got himself into a rhythm and turned around his outing.

"I got more comfortable after the first inning,” Davidson said. “I was feeling good with my mechanics and started delivering strikes. It was like, 'All right, you're rolling now, let's continue to go out and have quick innings.'"

After Buxton's homer, Davidson retired 12 of the next 13 batters he faced until giving up a one-out double to Sandy León in the fifth inning. But he stranded León by getting Jake Cave to fly out to right and Luis Arraez to ground out to second.

Davidson said he got a better feel for his pitches as the game went along and that his improved mechanics helped him pitch deeper into the game and avoid getting behind in counts.

“I felt like my front arm last week was going toward first base and I had to really rip toward third base to get that direction,” said Davidson, who walked five in his last outing. “This week, I really focused on keeping the front arm toward home plate and then just allowing myself to fall into my delivery.”

He came back out for the sixth and ran the count full against Correa, but got him to hit a comebacker on a slider for the first out. Buxton followed with a single and stole second despite Davidson having him picked off at first base, as Buxton beat Jared Walsh's throw into second. But again, Davidson navigated his way out of trouble, getting Jose Miranda to line out to right before striking out Jorge Polanco on a 2-2 slider to end his outing.

"He had only one walk and it hurt him in front of the home run, but he pitched clean after that,” Nevin said. “I only remember one [other] three-ball count. He got ahead of guys. He's got stuff and he threw strikes today against a good lineup and got a lot of outs with it. Getting through six was huge for us."