One bad inning costs Jack Kochanowicz in Angels’ loss to Yankees

ANAHEIM — One inning – and really one pitch – ruined the night for Angels pitcher Jack Kochanowicz.

The right-hander gave up four runs in the fourth inning of a 5-1 loss to the New York Yankees on Monday night.

Kochanowicz retired 17 of the 19 hitters he faced in the other six innings when he took the mound.

“If we could just take that back, it would be a different ball game,” Manager Ron Washington said.

Even if he had avoided the trouble in the fourth, it would have been tough for the Angels (25-28) because their bats have gone quiet during their three-game losing streak.

As for Kochanowicz, he had plenty of positives to take from this game. Through the first three innings, he retired all nine hitters on 28 pitches, including 22 strikes.

“The sinker was exactly how I want it to feel,” Kochanowicz said. “I’ve been chasing that feeling with it for a while. Last year, it was really how I wanted to be. So I’m definitely taking the good from that for today. Just want to continue that, and be able to do that the second time through the lineup.”

When the Yankees got their second look at him, in the fourth inning, it didn’t go well.

Kochanowicz gave up singles to Ben Rice and Trent Grisham. Aaron Judge then smoked a shot toward third baseman Yoán Moncada. He got a glove on it, but the ball dribbled away, for an infield hit. Had Moncada come up with the ball, he likely would have had time to get a double play.

“For me, that’s a ball you stay on your feet, you backhand, you run to third base and go for a double play,” Washington said. “He left his feet. Once he left his feet, now the hands are not working the way they’re supposed to work. So it was just a situation where we made a bad decision as far as that play goes.”

Kochanowicz then walked Cody Bellinger on four pitches, pushing home a run.

After a strikeout, Kochanowicz got ahead of Anthony Volpe, 0-and-2. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe called for a four-seam fastball and he held his glove as if he wanted it above the zone. Kochanowicz left it right in Volpe’s wheelhouse, and he drilled it off the fence in center field for a bases-clearing double.

“Definitely not the wrong pitch, just the wrong spot,” Kochanowicz said.

Both Rice and Volpe got hits after Kochanowicz got ahead with two quick strikes. This season opponents have hit .244 against Kochanowicz in plate appearances that start 0-and-2, including two homers and a double. The major league average is .165.

Kochanowicz said his difficulty putting hitters away is because he’s still not as comfortable with his other pitches, primarily his four-seam fastball, as he is with his sinker.

“Just getting a better idea with that four-seamer,” Kochanowicz said. “I’m so confident in my sinker, I think I just need to get to the same place with my other pitches. And it takes time to actually have that real confidence and trust yourself, but we’re getting there.”

Kochanowicz escaped further damage in the fourth, and then he kept the Yankees off the scoreboard for the rest of his outing, through 6⅔ innings.

The Yankees added an insurance run against right-hander Connor Brogdon in the eighth.

Angels pitchers needed to be just about perfect because of how little the lineup provided.

The Angels still have not been able to recreate the scoring binge that led to their eight-game winning streak.

After averaging more than seven runs per game during the streak, they’ve now scored just three in their three subsequent losses.

“It is what it is,” Washington said. “Seemed like my offense when everybody’s going well, it’s going well. When they’re not going well, it’s not going well. If we had the formula, we’d fix it. Just got to come every day and keep working.”

Zach Neto put the Angels on the scoreboard in the first inning, with a 440-foot homer that was the longest of his 41 career homers. The blast to straightaway center was Neto’s ninth homer of the season and his fourth homer to lead off the first inning this month.

Otherwise, the Angels didn’t even get a runner into scoring position until the eighth inning. Jo Adell provided most of the offense with a walk and two singles before popping up with runners on the corners to end the game.

O’Hoppe was hit in the head on a back swing in the top of the eighth. He was removed as a precaution.

“He feels good,” Washington said. “He’s telling me he can play, but we’re gonna wait and see.”