ANAHEIM — Once the Houston Astros were done giving the Angels runs, the Angels were done scoring.
The Angels lost to the Astros, 3-2, in 10 innings on Thursday, dropping the rubber game of the three-game series.
The Angels had erased an early two-run deficit, scoring a run on a bases-loaded walk in the third and a wild pitch in the fourth. Otherwise, the Angels reverted to their offensive malaise after scoring 12 runs in the first two games of this series. They stranded 14 runners and went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position during their 10th loss in 12 games.
“We had a lot of opportunities,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “Certainly had some base runners out there. Took some good at-bats and just didn’t get a big hit.”
Solid pitching by Reid Detmers and relievers Andrew Wantz, Ryan Tepera and Raisel Iglesias got the game to extra innings, but the Astros cashed in their automatic runner against Aaron Loup in the top of the 10th on a Jeremy Peña single.
In the bottom of the inning, Jared Walsh took a called third strike to start the inning. Max Stassi then hit a pop-up that second baseman Mauricio Dubon caught as he slid into the outfield grass.
Brandon Marsh struck out to end it, the 11th strikeout of the game for the Angels. One of the other most frustrating ones was in the eighth, when Taylor Ward took a called third strike to strand runners at first and second.
The third strike was “painted” on the outside corner by right-hander Rafael Montero, Ward said. The 1-and-1 pitch, though, was a fastball right over the heart of the plate that Ward also took.
“I definitely let a pitch go by that I was looking for,” Ward said. “I should have swung at that.”
Nevin agreed that Ward shouldn’t have let Montero get to that two-strike pitch.
“The guy made a good pitch, but he threw some pitches in the zone that you’d like to see him pull the trigger on,” Nevin said. “I don’t know what he’s looking for right there.”
The Angels’ strikeout problems have been well documented as they’ve struggled over the past six weeks.
The Angels, who have not won two games in a row since June 27, are now 6-17 in one-run games.
It was a tough loss for the Angels after Detmers pitched well, bouncing back from a rough first inning. He gave up two runs in six innings, after pitching six scoreless innings in his last outing.
“I felt like I was getting going back to my old habits a little bit,” Detmers said. “And then once I kind of felt myself again. That’s when things started to go a little bit better.”
It didn’t look like he was going to have much of a game in the first inning. He hit José Altuve in the foot with his first pitch of the game. Detmers then walked Peña on five pitches and gave up a first-pitch single to Alex Bregman. Kyle Tucker then singled into left, and the Astros had a run nine pitches into the game, with the bases still loaded and no outs.
Detmers got Yuli Gurriel to pop out. Aledmys Díaz grounded into a run-scoring force for the second out. Diaz then took off to try to steal second. After catcher Max Stassi’s throw went to second, Bregman broke for home, and the Angels nailed him at the plate, ending the inning with a manageable two-run deficit.
Detmers did not allow the Astros to get a runner into scoring position after that, getting through the sixth on 95 pitches.
“To minimize that damage (in the first) and then pitch through the sixth thing in a way he did was phenomenal,” Nevin said. “He found the feel for his pitches right away, where I think the past might have had a hard time reeling it back in. That was a winning effort today. After what happened in the first, he was outstanding.”
Detmers left in a tie game because the Angels managed two runs against a sloppy Framber Valdez.
In the third inning, Shohei Ohtani punched a one-out single into left field and the Angels turned that into a run with the help of two walks and a hit batter. In the fourth, Stassi led off with an infield single and he went to second when Dubon threw the ball away. The Angels bunted him to third and he scored on a wild pitch.
After that, the Angels didn’t even get a runner to third, as they dropped yet another game to continue their collapse. They have lost 34 of their last 46 games after starting 27-17.
“It’s been extremely tough, especially going off where we were at the first month of the season,” Ward said. “It’s crazy to me that we’re in this position, but you keep going. You never know.”
from Signage https://ift.tt/sNbHj94
via Irvine Sign Company
from Signage https://ift.tt/AcJzRPO
via Irvine Sign Company
