Angels’ winning streak ends with loss to Tigers
ANAHEIM – As the baseball rebounded off the center field wall and toward an unoccupied spot on the outfield grass, a season-best win streak and an impressive run of defense trickled away with it.
The Detroit Tigers’ Justyn-Henry Malloy delivered a two-run inside-the-park home run in a 7-6 victory that ended the Angels’ six-game winning streak and their bid for a perfect homestand. It would have been the Angels first sweep of a homestand lasting at least seven games since 2004.
Even worse for the Angels was Taylor Ward getting hit in the helmet flap across his left cheek by a 93-mph fastball from right-hander Shelby Miller in the ninth inning.
Ward left the game under his own power, as the incident brought back memories of last season at Toronto when he was hit in the face by a pitch and had multiple facial fractures. He did not play over the final two months.
As he doubled over to get his bearings, with his helmet and sunglasses on the ground, Ward recalled his immediate reaction.
“I was like ‘Really?’” Ward said. “Just thankful that everything is good.”
Angels manager Ron Washington said that both Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and Miller called with an apology and assurances the pitch was not intentional.
Still, pitching inside to Ward this season has not been uncommon.
“It could be because of last year and trying maybe get me to start thinking about it; get me off the next pitch,” said Ward, who passed a postgame concussion test. “It just seems to be something (opposing pitchers) are doing a lot and it just is what it is. I can’t control it.”
Ward was replaced on the bases by Kevin Pillar and three batters later, Zach Neto hit a three-run home run to left field, his 11th.
The comeback continued when Jo Adell hit a two-run home run to pull the Angels within a run, but another rally against the Tigers fell just short when Nolan Schanuel struck out against Detroit left-hander Tyler Holton to end the game.
“We just kept coming and finally broke through,” Washington said. “We just didn’t do enough.”
Until the pitch that hit Ward, defense had been the Angels’ primary concern Sunday.
Riding co-pilot during the team’s recent run of success had been solid glove work, like the kind of plays that ignited a comeback victory Saturday when Logan O’Hoppe, Griffin Canning, Schanuel, Zach Neto and Luis Guillorme all were involved in highlight plays.
There were no such defensive highlights Sunday, with the fourth inning a particular issue.
Third baseman Miguel Sano did make a diving stop to his left in the fourth on a ground ball from Gio Urshela with runners at second and third. He got to his feet but threw to home plate late and wide with no real chance of throwing out the runner. O’Hoppe salvaged the play when he was still able to record the out on Urshela at first base.
One batter later, Malloy delivered the rare inside-the-park home run when Angels center fielder Mickey Moniak got caught between meeting the ball at the wall while on the run or backing off to gather it off the rebound. He did neither with the ball rolling back toward his original spot in the outfield.
It was the first inside-the-park home run at Angel Stadium since the Angels’ Tommy La Stella pulled off the feat in June of 2019.
Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson (7-8) saw his ERA take a brunt of the damage on the play. Not at his best Sunday, Anderson ended up allowing six runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings. It was the first time he allowed more than four runs in a start this season and it was his shortest outing since going 4 1/3 innings on April 14.
“Generally, I think defense is something that we can control,” Anderson said. “Hitting and pitching a lot of times are out of your control. But once the ball is put in play, defense is a controllable attitude thing. I think guys have worked really hard on their defense and it’s been, for the most part, showing up.”
The Tigers built a 7-0 lead in the fifth inning on a three-run home run from Carson Kelly on the fourth pitch from reliever Andrew Wantz. Anderson was charged with two of the runs.
While the offense delivered late Saturday to pull off the late victory, it was otherwise held in check until the near end Sunday. The Angels avoided the shutout when Schanuel scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning then did even more in the ninth.
Luis Rengifo had another hit Sunday, a sixth-inning double, and delivered a hit in six of the seven games on the homestand.
By the seventh inning, Washington gave the rest of the day off to Rengifo and O’Hoppe, who had clutch home runs both Friday and Saturday. And yet another comeback nearly ensued.
“This group, we’ve done it a few times this year and you just never know with us,” Ward said, about watching the rally he essentially started when he was hit near the face. “We can rally on you real quick. We just want to take it into Oakland and keep it going.”