Angels fail in all facets as Braves deliver, win

ATLANTA » The Angels’ 7-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night was a dramatic contrast between one team that executed and one team that didn’t.

In the first two innings, before the game got away, the Angels failed at critical moments on defense and at the plate.

“To be competitive against teams like that, you can’t let them off the hook,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “You’ve got to make the plays you’re supposed to. When guys are out there, you’ve got to get them in. We’re seeing what that’s like. Teams like that capitalize on them and put them away. That’s why they’re the defending world champs, and we’re learning a lot this series.”

The first critical moment was in the bottom of the first inning. Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval had allowed hits to three of the first four batters he faced, but he was seemingly going to get out of the inning with only one run scored when Travis d’Arnaud hit a tailor-made double play grounder to third baseman Jonathan Villar.

Villar didn’t get the ball out his glove cleanly, and then his throw to second baseman Michael Stefanic was slightly off line. Stefanic stretched to get the ball, and then he also couldn’t make the transfer in time to even get off a throw. A run scored on the play. That misplay by Villar was in addition to errors he made in the fourth and fifth innings.

A few minutes later, the Angels started the top of the second with a leadoff double by Jared Walsh. He got to third on a ground ball, but then Dillon Thomas struck out when simply putting the ball in play could have cut the deficit to 2-1. Kurt Suzuki followed with another strikeout.

After that, the game got ugly. Sandoval gave up five runs in three innings, and the Angels offense could muster littler more than Shohei Ohtani’s 20th homer of the season.