HOUSTON — A four-game series against the defending World Series champions offered the Angels a chance to show if they had the stuff to be contenders.
After sloppy defense in a critical inning led the Angels to a 9-6 loss against the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon, they’ve now lost five of the six games this season against Houston.
“That makes us 1-5 against this club, so obviously we’re not there yet,” Manager Phil Nevin said.
Through 60 games the Angels are 30-30. They need to win on Sunday to avoid falling under .500 for the first time since April 20 and losing four in a row for the first time this season.
“We’ve been in a lot of ballgames,” center fielder Mike Trout said. “We had a lot of chances to win ballgames, just fell short. It’s a long season. Obviously, we’ve got to start picking it up.”
The pitching, hitting and defense have all been below expectations at times this season, but the defense has arguably been the most consistently disappointing, and that was on full display in one ugly game-changing sequence Saturday.
The Angels trailed 2-1 in the fourth. The Astros had runners at first and second with one out when Jeremy Peña hit a routine grounder to shortstop Livan Soto, who was starting because Zach Neto had a sore foot after being hit by a pitch the night before.
Soto bobbled the ball. By the time he recovered and threw to first, it was too late. Soto might not have had time to get a double play with the speedy Peña running, but it should have been an out at second.
Left-hander Patrick Sandoval said he knew at that moment he needed to pick up his teammates by getting dangerous slugger Yordan Alvarez.
“You gotta minimize the damage and make a pitch,” Sandoval said. “I did make a pitch. I just didn’t do my part on the defensive end.”
Alvarez hit a bouncer to the right side. It got past first baseman Jared Walsh, but second baseman Brandon Drury was there to easily handle it. Sandoval had not broken from the mound in time to cover first though.
“That’s on me right there,” Sandoval said. “I kind of gave up on it when it got by Walsh. I didn’t see Drury there. It should have been at least one out at first. Just kind of frustrated with myself at that point.”
That was the end of Sandoval’s day, but more runs were about to be added to his line.
Moments after Sandoval walked off the mound, right-hander Jacob Webb’s first pitch to Alex Bregman was deposited into the Crawford Boxes above the left field fence.
Because the infield misplays were charitably ruled hits, all six runs Sandoval allowed were earned, which lifted his ERA to 4.14.
Despite the ugly final line, and the defensive mistake, Sandoval said he was encouraged by the results of some tweaks he’d made since his last start. His average fastball was 93.3 mph, up a tick from his average through the rest of the season. He said his changeup and curveball were also better than they had been.
“I saw some improvements with the velo and stuff,” Sandoval said. “It’s just unfortunate how it ended up.”
Sandoval was also relieved to see that his teammates were able to make it a game after the fourth-inning nightmare.
In the seventh inning, Hunter Renfroe homered, Luis Rengifo doubled, Soto walked, Shohei Ohtani doubled and Trout singled to produce four runs. Ohtani’s double was one of his four hits. The Angels loaded the bases before Renfroe grounded out to end the inning with the score 7-5.
Flame-throwing rookie Ben Joyce then took the mound and learned that major league hitters can get to any fastball.
Although he averaged 101.9 mph with his 29 fastballs, he allowed a single and a home run on pitches at 101 or harder. He also gave up a double on a slider.
“You gotta get ahead of guys,” Nevin said. “I don’t care how hard you throw. And you do have to mix in some secondary pitches.”
The four-run deficit that Joyce left put the Angels in a deeper hole, and they managed just one in the ninth on a Ryan Pressly wild pitch.
Finishing with six runs was certainly some solace for the Angels, although it merely highlighted how different the game could have been if they hadn’t given away so much earlier.
“We shot ourselves in the foot in the fourth,” Nevin said. “The game looks a lot different.”
