Patchwork pitching staff can't hold down Twins
MINNEAPOLIS » If only the rain would have come a little sooner and lasted a lot longer, the Angels might have won on Sunday.
Instead, they gave up runs just before and after a 50-minute rain delay in a 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
The Angels had a 3-2 lead in the sixth — beyond the five innings required for an official game — as the drizzle began. The Twins scored a couple runs amid the rain drops, taking a 4-3 lead just before the tarp came out.
When the game resumed, righthander José Marte was torched for five runs, including a pair of two-run homers.
The Angels completed their sixgame trip by losing two of three in both series against the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays and Twins.
Next up is a home series against the first-place Texas Rangers, followed by three against the last-place Oakland A's.
That will be all for 2023 Angels (70
THE SCORE TWINS 9, ANGELS 3
Up next: 86), who are limping to the finish with a pitching staff in tatters.
The Angels used an opener for the second time in three days, with the rotation shuffled because of Tyler Anderson's knee injury.
This time right-hander Andrew Wantz got the start, and he gave up one run in two innings.
Right-hander Carson Fulmer then took over, pitching in a big league game for the first time in two years. He gave up a Jorge Polanco homer in the third, but then he worked two scoreless innings while the Angels gave him a 3-2 lead.
In the sixth, Fulmer allowed the tying run on Matt Wallner's RBI triple and the go-ahead run on a Trevor Larnach groundout, just before the delay.
“He's a competitor,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “He really is. You gotta throw more strikes. He knows that. But he gave us some valuable outs through the middle of game. Gave us a chance to win.”
Nevin said that Fulmer would have stayed in the game for the seventh if not for the rain delay.
Offensively, Brandon Drury finished off a good trip with a two-run double. He was 10 for 27 with three doubles and two homers in the six games.
Zach Neto had a single and a double. Neto was hitting .122 in his first 10 games after being activated from the injured list.
“I'm starting to starting to click a little bit,” Neto said. “Starting to see it little little better than when I got called back up and. Just trying to try to keep having positive at-bats Just trying to do anything I can to move guys over or bring them in.”
Neto had a scary moment in the ninth inning, when he fouled a ball off his leg and spent a couple minutes on the ground. He remained in the game, and was hit in the leg by the next pitch.
“It's something I don't feel right now,” Neto said. “Maybe tomorrow I feel sore. Maybe not. I'm not too concerned about it.”
Rangers at Angels, today, 6:38 p.m., BSW