Sandoval suffers oblique injury in loss to Rangers

ANAHEIM » A season Patrick Sandoval would prefer to forget appeared to come to an end Monday with traffic on the bases and the ultimate destination nowhere within reach.

Sandoval winced on a 3-2 pitch to the Texas Rangers' Mitch Garver in the fourth inning while dealing his fifth walk of the game. A meeting on the mound ended with Sandoval walking off the field and toward 2024 with a right oblique injury.

When it was over the Rangers had a 5-1 victory over the Angels while reducing their magic number for clinching the American League West to four.

Sandoval's season started out so promising in the World Baseball Classic, but it ended with a 7-13 record and a 4.11 ERA in 28 starts, including Monday's no-decision.

In a microcosm of how it went this year, Sandoval did not give up a run in the three-plus innings of work Monday, but it was the internal numbers that told the story. In addition to his five walks, Sandoval gave up two hits, while recording nine outs on 65 pitches, only 32 of which were strikes.

Of Sandoval's seven wins this season, none were against a playoff-bound team. And yet, he couldn't completely be to blame with 23 unearned runs to lead baseball.

Sandoval was part of what appeared to be a trio of impressive left-handed starters for the Angels when the season began, alongside Reid Detmers and Tyler Anderson. Making it look so promising is that the three were a complement to the designated ace of the staff,

THE SCORE RANGERS 5, ANGELS 1

Up next: Rangers at Angels, today, 6:38 p.m., BSW

right-hander Shohei Ohtani.

And Sandoval looked ready for the task at hand while pitching for Mexico in the WBC when he gave up one total run in outings against the United States and Japan. He then gave up just one run in each of his first two starts of the regular season before inconsistencies arrived.

With less than a week remaining, Sandoval's 74 walks are third most in the American League and more than anybody in the league not on the staff of the Chicago White Sox.

And despite the short start Monday and the early use of the bullpen, the Angels held a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning on a second-inning home run from rookie

Logan O'Hoppe.

It was a day for Angels' rookies, at least, with Nolan Schanuel collecting a double in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to 27 games at the start of his career, moving him alone into fourth place on the alltime list.

Then came the Rangers' home-run barrage in the sixth inning with Adolis Garcia, Garver and Nathaniel Lowe all going deep in succession against righthander Jimmy Herget.

Marcus Semien added a home run for Texas in the seventh inning against Jaime Barria, with the right-hander uncorking a wild pitch in the eighth for the final Rangers run.

Short on arms, the Angels used right-hander Carson Fulmer for an inning, one day after he threw 70 pitches while taking a loss on the road against the Minnesota Twins.