Angels bullpen gets hit hard in blowout
ANAHEIM >> A promising night for the Angels got away quickly in a barrage of hits against a short-handed bullpen.
The Angels lost 11-4 to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, as an early threerun lead turned into a blowout loss.
Chase Silseth shut out the White Sox for four innings, while the Angels gave him a lead on solo homers by Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Andrew Velazquez.
Silseth, though, struggled in the fifth, allowing the White Sox to tie the game. Angels relievers Oliver Ortega, Aaron Loup, Elvis Peguero and Jaime Barria were charged with a combined eight runs.
The Angels are wellequipped for the late innings, with Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Tepera and José Quijada all pitching well.
However, the rest of the bullpen is currently thin because of injuries and Sunday's fight. Andrew Wantz is currently suspended because of the incident, which leaves the Angels down one man on the roster. Archie Bradley is now on the injured list after he was hurt jumping the dugout railing to join the fray.
A pair of other productive Angels middle relievers — Austin Warren and Jimmy Herget — were injured last week.
The Angels were left to slog through a disappointing night just after they'd won two in a row and showed encouraging signs as they try to get their season back on track.
On the bright side, they still have Ohtani pitching tonight with a chance to win the series.
They gave the ball to Silseth for the start on Tuesday, his return to the big leagues after a few weeks at DoubleA. Silseth made it through the first four innings without giving up a run. He struck out five of the first eight hitters he faced.
In the fifth, though, it all fell apart in the span of three batters.
Leury García poked a single the opposite way on an outside pitch. Seby Zavala, a Bishop Amat High product, then yanked a changeup down the left field line for an RBI double.
Silseth then got too much of the plate with a fastball and Josh Harrison hit it over the left-field fence, a two-run homer.
A few batters later, Ortega gave up a booming two-run shot to Luis Robert, putting the Angels down 5-3.
Loup, who has struggled for most of the past month, entered in the sixth and allowed a single, a double and a walk in the four batters he faced. Peguero bailed him out of that inning by getting a double play.
Peguero didn't retire any of the four hitters he faced in the seventh, though. All of them eventually scored.
Meanwhile, the Angels offense came mostly from Trout and Ohtani.
They hit back-to-back homers in the third inning, the 23rd of the season for Trout and 17th for Ohtani. Ohtani also added a pair of doubles, including an RBI double in the seventh inning.