Angels don’t get enough offense to erase early deficit
that was for my family and I.”
ANAHEIM » On May 16, Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward made a quip about “the lesser guys” in the Angels’ lineup doing most of the damage on offense in a head-to-head game. The next day, a team set of red T-shirts emblazoned with the words “the lesser guys” were hanging from every locker in the clubhouse.
For a time, the T-shirts served as an appropriate motivational tool, a fashionable form of “bulletin board material.” As the team plummeted in the standings, the idea of “lesser guys” cut in the opposite direction.
Friday against the Seattle Mariners, the Angels’ top three hitters went 4 for 10 and were responsible for all three runs in a 4-3 loss. The rest of the lineup — the “lesser guys,” if you will — went 3 for 21 with seven strikeouts and grounded into two double plays.
The loss cost the Angels (34-39) a chance to gain separation on the team just behind them in the American League West. Seattle (33-39) sits a half-game behind in the American League West standings.
Mike Trout went 2 for 3 with an RBI triple, a home run, and an intentional walk that matched Vladimir Guerrero’s franchise record in the category. Shohei Ohtani singled and drove in a run. Taylor Ward singled and scored a run from the top of the lineup.
It was not enough offense to erase an early 3-0 deficit — even on a night when the Mariners went 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position and left 16 men on base.
Angels starter Michael Lorenzen labored through three innings, needing 85 pitches to record nine outs. It was his shortest start of the season.
Lorenzen struggled with his command. He walked four batters, allowed four hits, and hit another. Four batters into the game, the Angels were playing catchup.
Julio Rodriguez walked, went to second on a Jesse Winker single, and scored on a single by Eugenio Suarez to give Seattle a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Jesse Winker singled in the third inning, then scored on a two-out, two-strike single by Justin Upton. The Mariners’ DH went 1 for 4 in his first game at Angel Stadium since he was designated for assignment by the Angels in April.
After Upton’s single, Lorenzen walked Adam Frazier to load the bases, prompting Oliver Ortega to get warm in the bullpen. Lorenzen retired Dylan Moore to get out of the inning, but that was the end of his evening.