Rough night in outfield costs Angels in 5-1 loss to Astros
HOUSTON —The Angels sacrificed defense for offense and wound up without enough of either on Wednesday night.
Using an unusual outfield alignment so they could stack their lineup with right-handed hitters against Houston Astros ace lefty Dallas Keuchel, the Angels were burned by outfield misplays in a 5-1 loss.
Jefry Marte started in left for the first time since last year and he came up empty tracking two catchable balls that led to Astros runs.
Marte is naturally an infielder, but last year the Angels experimented and he played 27 games in left. This spring, though, his work in the outfield was limit-
ed to drills, and his only game action of the season came in the final three innings of last Thursday’s game.
Cameron Maybin started in right because Gold Glove winner Kole Calhoun is a left-handed hitter and in a slump. Maybin, whose only big league experience in right came last week, also allowed a catchable ball to drop.
It all happened while J.C. Ramirez was on the mound. Ramirez took matters into his own hands mostly, striking out a career-high nine in his 5 1/3 innings.
Ramirez, a career reliever who has gotten a chance to start because of Garrett Richards’ injury, struck out five in a row and seven of eight during one dominant stretch.
The problems came when the Astros hit the ball.
The second hitter of the game, Josh Reddick, hit a line drive to left that Marte couldn’t handle. It got past him for a triple. Jose Altuve then hit a blooper into right, dropping just in front of Maybin, as Reddick scored.
The inning could have been worse but the Angels got a break. One of Ramirez’s pitches got past catcher Martin Maldonado, but ricocheted so hard off the backstop that it bounced back to Maldonado in time to tag out Altuve trying to score.
Ramirez, though, settled down and went on a strikeout binge, which allowed him to still get into the sixth inning.
Reddick led off the sixth, though, with another drive to left field. Reddick hit the ball off the shallow fence in left field, but Marte was back in time and could have caught it. Reddick scored on Evan Gattis’ two-out single.
The reason the Angels even went with the unusual outfield alignment was that Keuchel is not only one of the best pitchers in the league—the 2015 Cy Young winner—but he’s particularly tough on lefties.
With all nine hitters in the starting lineup swinging from the right side, the Angels actually had some action against Keuchel, but not enough.
They had eight hits against Keuchel, but couldn’t group them together well enough for a big inning. Their best shot was in the third, when Albert Pujols came up with runners at first and second. Pujols hit a tapper back to the mound.
Keuchel, a Gold Glove winner, also helped himself in the fifth. After Danny Espinosa’s leadoff double, the Angels tried a sacrifice, but Keuchel pounced on the ball and threw to third for the out.
The Angels still trailed just 3-1 after Keuchel had thrown his last pitch of the night in the seventh, but before they could get a crack at the Astros bullpen, the Astros pushed the lead to 5-1 on a two-run homer by Reddick.