OAKLAND — The good feelings from the Angels’ six-game winning game streak are officially gone, eviscerated in three games against one of the few teams having a worse season.
The Angels lost 5-0 to the Oakland A’s on Thursday, getting shut out for the second consecutive game and losing for the fourth straight game since their winning streak.
“Winning a baseball game is really tough,” Angels outfielder Kevin Pillar said. “You can feel on top of the world and invincible for a series or a few series or a week or a month, and you can feel completely lost the next day, the following day for a week or a month.”
While the Angels looked like they might be showing some signs of life last week – even if it was still too late for this season – they reverted to their disappointing form in Oakland.
The Angels (36-50) were held to four hits Thursday, after being blanked in a 92-pitch complete game by Joey Estes on Wednesday. It was the first time since June 2023 that the Angels were shut out in consecutive games.
Manager Ron Washington suggested the Angels were spent after the effort it took to win those six games in a row last week, and it has shown in their performance since.
“They looked tired,” Washington said. “It takes a lot out of you to win. It really does. And they haven’t understood that yet. What they did on that win streak is what they have to learn to bring every single day and they got to learn to do it. And they just looked tired. That’s all. The bats were heavy. The pitchers just couldn’t consistently put the ball in the strike zone. The guys you don’t expect to do things out there on the defensive side that’s not good for you, they were doing it. We just gotta turn the page and head on to Chicago.”
On Thursday, they could place some hope in the fact that they were facing left-hander JP Sears, and the Angels have been significantly better this season against lefties.
However, one of their best hitters against lefties has been Luis Rengifo, who was out of the lineup after hurting his wrist on Wednesday night.
“I really didn’t think that guy that day today was all that,” Washington said of Sears, “but he made pitches when he had to. And it seemed like when we put the ball in play with any authority, somebody was there catching it. They played tremendous defense. We got to find a way to start putting runs back on the board.”
The Angels had two hits in five innings against Sears. They loaded the bases in the third on a singe, a walk and a hit batter, but Taylor Ward flied out to strand the runners.
“We get the right guy up there,” Washington said. “That’s our RBI guy. Didn’t happen. So we’ve just got to regroup.”
In the sixth, the Angels had two on and two outs when Zach Neto was retired on a nice over-the-shoulder catch by first baseman Tyler Soderstrom in foul territory.
On the mound, Angels starter Roansy Contreras lasted only 2 2/3 innings before he was knocked out, having allowed three runs.
Contreras has been a reliever all season, but the Angels are trying him out as a starter because injuries to Patrick Sandoval and Chase Silseth and the ineffectiveness of Reid Detmers have left them scrambling.
One of the runs Contreras allowed was unearned after Ward misplayed a single in left field. He allowed the ball to skip past him, which allowed Miguel Andujar to add an extra 90 feet to his single. Andujar ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly.
A passed ball by catcher Logan O’Hoppe added another unearned run against reliever Matt Moore in the sixth.
There were two defensive highlights, though.
Pillar made a spectacular catch to rob JJ Bleday of a homer in the first inning. Pillar, 35, leapt and got his glove a good three feet above the top of the center field fence as he pulled the ball down.
Pillar took a hit from Bleday when he dove forward to snag a line drive in the fourth inning.
Pillar narrowly missed another attempt on a Lawrence Butler homer in the ninth.
“I know I can still make plays like that,” Pillar said. “In order to showcase your ability, sometimes you need some opportunities to go out there and have some balls be put in play and allow you to run them down.”
