The 27-year-old right-hander allowed just two hits on the afternoon and didn’t walk a batter. Those two baserunners came in succession, as Mike Trout singled with two outs in the fourth inning and Taylor Ward crushed a two-run homer. Kirby then settled back in and retired each of the final 10 hitters that he faced in order. He also punched out every batter in the Angels’ lineup at least once during the magnificent performance. Kirby generated 14 swings and misses on 96 pitches in the ballgame — eight of them on his fastball which averaged 96.6 mph — while registering an elite CSW of 39 percent. He’ll see if he can build off of this stellar effort when he carries a 6.53 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 25/4 K/B ratio (20 2/3 innings) into Saturday’s tilt against the Guardians.

It’s an extremely encouraging sign that Kirby is feeling well enough to be out there after taking a line drive to the right side of his face during Tuesday’s start against the Orioles. Barring something unexpected, he should be ready to make his next start on Sunday against the division-rival Angels.

It sounds like Kirby, who had a noticeable bruise on the right side of his upper lip while speaking to reporters, managed to avoid serious injury when he was struck by a 102.7-mph line drive during the fifth inning of Tuesday’s outing. He added that the ball deflected off his right hand before hitting him in the face, managing to avoid any major damage. The 27-year-old righty appears on track to make his next start on Sunday against the Angels.

Kirby took a 102.7-mph line drive directly to the face with two outs in the fifth inning off the bat of Orioles infielder Ramón Urías. The positive news is that he was able to walk off the field under his own power, but appeared to be bleeding from his mouth.