April 21, 2017

Just when you thought things could only get better for the Angels, they lose to the team with the worst record in baseball on Friday night at the Big A.  The Blue Jays defeated the Angels 8-7 in 13 innings in the first of a four game set.

Jose Bautista hit his first homer of the season, a 3-run blast coming in the top of the 13th inning, to put the Jays ahead 8-5.  The Halos threatened in the 9th inning, but Toronto held on for just it’s 4th victory of the season.

The Blue Jays were off to their worst start in franchise history, and Bautista was hitting only .109 coming into the game.  The Angels haven’t been much better, now losers of 9 of their last 10 games, and tied for last place in the AL West.

The Angels were forced to use Jesse Chavez in the 13th inning.  Chavez took the loss, and was schedule to start on Sunday.  The Halos used all of their position players and relievers.

After a walk and two Toronto errors, the Halos loaded the bases in the bottom of the 13th inning with nobody out.  The Jays brought in reliever Joe Biagini, who struck out Cliff Pennington for the 1st out of the inning.

A single by Kole Calhoun, and a walk to Mike Trout made the score 8-7.  However, Albert Pujols struck out, and CJ Cron lined out to center to end the game.  Biagini earned the save, and Ryan Tepera got credit for the win after pitching 3 scoreless innings of relief.

The Angels started Alex Meyer, who made his season debut after being called up from the minors.  However, he didn’t last long, pitching only 3 2/3rd innings.  He yielded two runs on four hits, walking four, and also had a wild pitch that scored one of the runs.  The Jays had a 2-0 lead heading to the bottom of the 3rd.

Albert Pujols gave the Angels the lead with a 3-run double in that 3rd inning.  Two innings later, Mike Trout hit a solo home run and it was 4-2 Halos.

A few innings later, the Angels gave the lead right back.  With a 4-3 lead, Bud Norris walked two and gave way to Cam Bedrosian, who promptly wild pitched the runners up a base and gave up a two-run double to Justin Smoak.

An RBI double from Jefrey Marte in the 8th inning would tie the game at 5-5.   It appeared the ball may have bounced off the bottom of the foul pole, but after a review it was ruled a double.

After all that, the Angels and Jays will be back at it on Saturday night at the Big A in game 2 of the series.  Tyler Skaggs (0-1; 5.19 ERA) will get the ball for the Angels, and the Jays will counter with Casey Lawrence (0-1; 13.50 ERA).

April 20, 2017

Another day in Houston, and another loss where the Angels couldn’t get their bats going.  This time a 2-1 loss to the Astros, which gave Houston 3 victories in the 4 game set.

The Angels were victimized by the long ball in this one.  Carlos Beltran connected on a solo shot off Matt Shoemaker in the 1st inning to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.

Houston would add to that in the 5th when Jake Marisnick took Shoemaker deep to left for another solo homer, and the Astros had a 2-0 lead.

The Halos only run came in the 9th on a home run by Mike Trout.  It was his 4th of the season.

Shoemaker took the loss, his first of the year.  He went 7 innings, giving up just the 2 home runs on 3 hits, while striking out 7 Astros.  He departed after 98 pitches, then turned things over to Bud Norris who pitched a scoreless 8th inning.

However, the Astros pitching was more flawless on this day.  Lance McCullers pitched 6 2/3rd innings, delivering a 3-hit shutout in that stretch.  He improved to 2-0 on the season. 

Chris Devenski pitched the final 2 1/3rd innings to get credit for the save.  He allowed 3 hits, including the Trout homer, but stranded Cliff Pennington and Andrelton Simmons at 2nd and 3rd to end the game.  At one point he struck out 8 of 10 Angels.

The Halos now lead the majors with 25 home runs allowed.  They’ve also dropped 8 of their last 9 games to fall to 7-10 on the season.

The Angel are now headed home to open a 4-game series with the Blue Jays.  It will be Tyler Skaggs (0-1; 5.19 ERA) going for the Halos on Friday, while the Jays will deploy Mat Latos, who was just called up from Triple-A.

April 19, 2017

The Angels took another loss in Houston on Wednesday night, this time by a score of 5-1, and it was their usually stellar defense that let them down.

Dallas Keuchel went 7 strong innings for the Astros, and Josh Reddick had 3 hits including a home run in the victory for Houston.  Reddick drove in 2 runs, scored 3, and finished just a single shy of the cycle.

The Halos started an unusual outfield, which included Jefry Marte in right field, and Cameron Maybin in left.  Marte did not play a single inning in the outfield during spring training, and Maybin has spent little time in right field.  It was evident on Wednesday night.

Reddick was just the second batter of the game, and hit a line drive near Marte, which he missed by a few feet after getting a late break on the ball.  That hit turned into a triple.  Reddick would score shortly after when Jose Altuve singled to right field, on a play where Maybin also got a late break on the ball and couldn’t corral it after sliding.  That gave the Astros a 1-0 lead.

The Angels were fortunate to escape that inning without any further damage.  Altuve stole 2nd, and got to 3rd on a single by Brian McCann.  A wild pitch by Angel starter JC Ramirez got by Martin Maldonado, but the ball bounced off the backstop and back to the the Angel catcher, who tagged out Altuve.

The Angels would tie things up in the 3rd inning, on what would be their only run of the game.  Danny Espinosa doubled, and two batters later, Yunel Escobar singled him in.

Ramirez made his 2nd career start, and was on a roll for the next three innings.  He struck out the side in the 4th, and had 5 straight overall.  However, he ran into trouble in the 5th inning.  Alex Bregman led off with a double and scored on a Yulieski Gurriel single.

In the 6th, Reddick led off with a drive to left field, which gave Marte more trouble.  He tracked it back to the wall but could not glove it, giving Reddick a generous double. Ramirez then retired Altuve, but his night was over after that. Jose Alvarez came in to face McCann. Alvarez retired McCann on a flyout.   Blake Parker would come in next to face Evan Gattis, who ripped a run-scoring single to right.  That made it 3-1.

The Astros delivered the final blow in the bottom of the 7th, when Reddick crushed a 2-run homer to right field off of Mike Morin.  Ramirez ultimately took the loss, falling to 2-2 on the season.

The Angels are now 7-9, and are losers of 7 of their last 8 games.  They’ll try to find the win column during a matinee showdown with Houston on Thursday.  It will be the final game of the four game set.  Matt Shoemaker will be on the mound for the Angels.  He’ll be looking for his first win of the season against Lance McCullers Jr, who is 1-0 on the year.

April 18, 2017

The Angels snapped a 6-game losing skid on Tuesday night against the Astros with a 5-2 victory.  Albert Pujols hit a tie-breaking 3-run homer in the 5th inning to help secure the victory.

Ricky Nolasco pitched 6 strong innings for the Halos, giving up just 2 runs on 8 hits, and striking out 3.  He improved to 1-2 on the season.  Cam Bedrosian pitched the 9th to earn his 3rd save of the season.

The Angels jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Andrelton Simmons hit a solo homer in the 2nd inning off of Astros starter’ Joe Musgrove.  The homer snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak for the Angels.

The Astros came back in the 3rd with a pair of solo homers.  One of them came from Yuli Gurriel and  the other from George Springer.  Those were the only two runs Nolasco allowed in his 103-pitch performance.

Mike Trout put the Angels back in front in the 5th with an RBI double, which made it 3-2.  Pujols was the next batter, and he delivered the decisive blow with homer.

“We have a lot of confidence in our offense,” skipper Mike Scioscia said. “I don’t think anyone was doubting that we would get back on track. But the sooner the better, and we did a good job in the fifth inning.”

Musgrove took the loss, and fell to 1-1 on the season.  He gave up all 5 runs on 8 hits, in 5 innings of work.

“We turned the page on last night and got a win,” Trout said. “You can always look at the negatives, but this team looks at the positives. … It’s a good win. Just go and build on this momentum for tomorrow.”

The Angels will be back at it tomorrow in game 3 of the 4 game set.  JC Ramirez will be on the mound for the Angels, and Dallas Keuchel will go for the Astros.