ANAHEIM — Davis Daniel likely did enough to earn another start, even though his teammates didn’t do enough to get him a victory.
Daniel gave up one run in five innings, but the Angels lost to the Colorado Rockies, 2-1, on Wednesday night after reliever Hans Crouse gave up a tie-breaking homer to Brenton Doyle in the eighth.
The only offense the Angels could muster was Logan O’Hoppe’s 15th home run of the season, wasting a solid pitching performance by Daniel and the bullpen.
“Daniel gave us a real good stuff,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He really did. The thing is we just couldn’t support it with any more runs than the one he got from O’Hoppe. (Kyle) Freeland is a pretty good pitcher. He kept us off balance tonight. Tip your hat to that.”
For Daniel, it was a nice bounce-back for him after he had failed to maintain what he did in his first start.
Daniel, a 27-year-old right-hander, was brilliant in his first major league start, on June 27 against the Detroit Tigers. He worked eight scoreless innings without a walk. He threw 73 strikes among his 99 pitches.
In the next two starts, though, he gave up 12 runs. That earned him a trip back to the minors. He gave up one run in seven innings in his last Triple-A start, with nine strikeouts and no walks. He said he was able to carry that into his start on Wednesday.
“Just trying to build off the last one there and continue to work from ahead,” Daniel said. “I think it was kind of the same thing today. Just continue to try and get strike one and be on the attack and come in with the heater. I felt like the slider was a little more consistent tonight. I think the combination of pitching in with the heater and throwing some sliders off (the plate), it opened up a lot for me.”
This time he threw 60 strikes among his 85 pitches, and he threw a first-pitch strike to 15 of 21 hitters.
“He stayed off the middle of plate for one,” Washington said. “He was able to land his offspeed pitches, and he moved the fastball around. He just didn’t throw a fastball down the middle of the plate. Once he had that little hiccup in the first inning, he settled in pretty good.”
The Angels’ No. 5 starter spot has been wide open for weeks, so Daniel likely earned another turn next week, most likely at Yankee Stadium.
After Daniel, the Angels turned to the two relievers who took the spots vacated by the trades of Carlos Estévez and Luis Garcia.
Right-hander José Marte pitched a scoreless sixth, working around a leadoff double, and right-hander Mike Baumann posted a zero in the seventh.
Crouse then allowed a homer in the eighth, and that proved to be the difference on a night when the Angels’ hitters were stymied by Freeland.
O’Hoppe’s homer was the only run Freeland allowed.
O’Hoppe also singled in the seventh, just before Zach Neto got a hit. That represented the Angels’ best shot at a “rally” in their seven innings against Freeland. But both runners were left on base when Brandon Drury struck out.
Drury started to show some encouraging signs of coming out of his slump last week, but since then he’s gone 1 for 15. He’s hitting .163 with a .440 OPS this season.
After Freeland was gone, the Angels had a shot in the eighth, when Jo Adell drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a sacrifice. Nolan Schanuel struck out.
Luis Rengifo then had to come out of the game after suffering an apparent injury on a swing. Rengifo had missed time earlier this month with wrist inflammation, and Washington said he came out this time with a “flare up” of that injury. Washington said Rengifo will be re-evaluated on Thursday.
Mickey Moniak replaced Rengifo and struck out. The Angels then went in order in the ninth.
