The Angels put their leadoff man on in six innings, but failed to produce a multi-run inning. Down by two in the ninth, they loaded the bases with no outs, but settled for one run. The game ended when Mike Trout struck out.
BOSTON — The Angels could not have set the stage any better for a ninth-inning comeback, working their way through the lineup to get Mike Trout to the plate with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
It didn’t work.
“That’s what every baseball player wants, to be in that spot in the ninth,” Trout said after striking out to end the Angels’ 5-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. “I didn’t come through. I need to be better. Especially early in the season, I feel like I’ve had a lot of chances with guys on base. I’ll be better.”
It was the frustrating end to a day in which the Angels put their leadoff man on base in six of the nine innings, but never managed a multi-run inning. They were behind for most of the afternoon, never able to break through for a big inning.
“I think if we keep giving ourselves chances, that big hit will come,” Trout said. “We’re having good at-bats. We’re making the pitcher work. We’re having opportunities, but we’re falling short. We just gotta keep trusting it and the big hit will come.”
The Angels (7-8) have now lost three straight series, including the last two when they dropped a tight game in the series finale.
It seemed like this time they might convert because of the way the ninth inning began with Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen on the mound and a 5-3 deficit.
Logan O’Hoppe was hit by a pitch. Mickey Moniak singled. Zach Neto drew a walk. Anthony Rendon then hit a fly ball to center field, deep enough to score a run and to move Moniak and Neto up 90 feet.
Luis Rengifo then struck out on three pitches, waving at pitch that was well outside for strike three.
That brought Trout to the plate. Although first base was open, Red Sox manager Alex Cora opted to pitch to Trout, who was 1 for 11 with eight strikeouts in his career against Jansen. The Red Sox also likely didn’t want to put Jansen in a situation in which he could walk in a run, considering he’d been wild.
Trout worked the count to 2-and-2 before finally swinging through a cutter at the bottom of the zone.
“You know the cutter’s coming,” Trout said. “If he’s got it moving that day, it’s a tough pitch.”
Although Trout came up empty at the end, the Angels had plenty of opportunities throughout the game. In the third, just after they had tied the game, 2-2, on an RBI groundout, Taylor Ward and Aaron Hicks each struck out, stranding two.
Brandon Drury led off the fourth with a single, but O’Hoppe then hit into a double play. In the sixth, the Angels had runners at the corners with one out when Drury pounded the first pitch right to third baseman Pablo Reyes, who started an inning-ending double play.
At that moment, the Angels trailed by a run. The deficit grew to three runs quickly, when left-hander José Suarez issued a leadoff walk and then gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth.
Washington said he used Suarez in that spot because the Red Sox had so many lefties in their lineup, including the first two hitters in the sixth. Boston’s Masataka Yoshida homered against Suarez.
“Their lefties got him,” manager Ron Washington said. “If he got those lefties out, it’s a different ballgame. He was the best matchup at the time. We just didn’t get the job done.”
Angels also didn’t get a crisp outing from starter Tyler Anderson, who had not allowed a run in 14 innings in his first two starts. That streak ended emphatically when he threw Tyler O’Neill a first-inning fastball over the middle of the plate. O’Neill drilled it over the Green Monster.
A few pitches later, Anderson left another pitch over the middle to Triston Casas, who also homered.
From there he settled down, tacking on three more scoreless innings. The Red Sox got his pitch count up, though, so he didn’t make it through the fifth. He was pulled after allowing a third run on his 93rd pitch.
“Just working myself into bad counts,” Anderson said. “A couple mistakes in the middle, they put really good swings on. When I made really good pitches, they spoiled them. They fouled them off or put them in play.”
