Walks and injuries spoil Angels’ home opener
ANAHEIM — On the night the Angels and a sellout crowd of 44,749 celebrated a new season and new hope, sparked by an encouraging first road trip, their performance was frustratingly familiar.
The Angels lost, 8-6, to the Cleveland Guardians in the home opener, a game marked by walks, a defensive misplay, missed run-scoring opportunities and three – yes, three – injuries.
If Manager Ron Washington’s early assessment is accurate, though, none of the players will go on the injured list.
Second baseman Luis Rengifo left the game in the fourth inning because of left hamstring tightness, the same injury that cost him time in spring training. Washington said he took him out because he “didn’t want to take any chances,” and he expected Rengifo to be back in the lineup on Saturday.
Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn came out of the game after facing two batters in the sixth inning because of right hamstring tightness. Zeferjahn said he also believes they caught it early enough that it’s not serious.
“We’re gonna work on it,” Zeferjahn said. “I think it was just a little cramp, tightness thing.”
Third baseman Yoán Moncada was removed in the seventh inning with right thumb irritation, which was the same injury that knocked him out of action during the final week of spring training. Washington said he didn’t think Moncada would be able to play on Saturday. Moncada said through an interpreter that he’d been feeling “great” during the season’s first week, but he aggravated it during a swing in the seventh inning.
On the bright side, Mike Trout hit his second home run in as many games. The three-time American League MVP has now had an extra-base hit in three straight games.
And José Soriano showed some encouraging signs that he’s adding a layer to his game, with increased use of a slider that helped him to a career-high nine strikeouts.
Soriano also walked three, and all of them scored, leading to five runs that he allowed. Two of the runs that scored against the bullpen also reached base with walks.
The three runs that the Guardians scored in the sixth and seventh innings to take the lead all came from walks.
Two of those shouldn’t have scored at all, but Moncada couldn’t come up with a two-out grounder to his left. It was charitably ruled a hit.
“Just misjudged it,” Washington said. “I think if he had stayed on his feet, reached down there, he might have gotten it. Once you leave your feet, your hands go up, and that’s what he did. He left his feet. His hands went up. The ball went underneath.”
At the plate, the Angels went 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. In the fifth inning, they loaded the bases with one out, but Jo Adell struck out Kevin Newman hit a flyout.
Adell put a charge into the crowd when hit a fly ball to the warning track in the seventh, coming up just short of a game-tying three-run homer.
Meanwhile, Cleveland star José Ramirez had no trouble getting the ball over the fence. He hit three homers, including one on a Soriano slider.
Soriano normally relies heavily on his sinker and his knuckle curve, but in the early going this season he’s been throwing his slider more. Soriano threw his slider just 5.5% of the time last year, and so far this season he’s thrown it 14.1% of the time.
“I feel good,” Soriano said through an interpreter. “I was working on that pitch and I think I commanded it pretty well tonight. I think it’s getting better.”
Soriano has gotten whiffs on 10 of the 15 swings at his slider, helping to a career high 17 whiffs on Friday night. He struck out nine, which was a career high.
One of those was a huge cut from Ramirez in the fifth inning. However, Soriano and catcher Logan O’Hoppe opted to go back-to-back with the same pitch. Ramirez was ready for the second one, and he hammered it over the right field fence for a two-run homer.
“Maybe if I throw another pitch there, it might be a better result, but that was not the plan,” Soriano said. “I threw a slider. I think was well located, but he is a very smart hitter and very good hitter.”
Ramirez homered on a Soriano sinker in the first inning, and then hit one against Caden Dana in the ninth.
It was the second straight game the Angels allowed one player to hit three homers. St. Louis Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera did it on Wednesday.
Ramirez’s third homer put the Angels in a four-run hole, and they showed a little life in the bottom of the ninth. O’Hoppe hit a homer – his third of the season – and then Adell drove in a run with a single.
“The good thing is, we started swinging the bat,” Washington said. “We didn’t quit. We put ourselves in position to do something good at the end of the game. We’ll come back tomorrow. Those boys fought out there tonight.”