Wild card getting more out of reach
After getting swept in Cleveland, the Angels are running out of time to make up deficit.
CLEVELAND — Fifteen times, Albert Pujols batted this week against the Cleveland Indians. Fifteen times, he walked back to the Angels’ dugout without a hit.
For the first time in his career, he went 0 for 15 in a series, absent anything productive.
“He hit a line-drive foul and hit one ball hard to right-center,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of his No. 3 hitter’s performance in a 2-1 loss Thursday. “But, yeah, he’s a little out of sync at the plate.”
Asked whether he felt out of sync, Pujols pushed back.
“Why, because I went 0for?” he asked. “That’s not the first time in my career.”
Told Scioscia had said it, Pujols said to ask the manager again.
“I’m not out of sync,” he said. “It’s OK. It’s just a tough series. That’s it. We could’ve won either of those games. Obviously, that’s the way it goes.”
For the Angels, the way it has gone this week is that tight games turned on one pitch. One strike from escaping the seventh inning with a tie intact, their starting pitcher Thursday gave up a go-ahead hit for the second straight day.
Right-hander JC Ramirez was the culprit this time, his outing marred by walks that supplied the difference in the Angels’ third consecutive loss to the Indians at Progressive Field, Cleveland’s seventh win in a row.
The Angels (49-54) had not been swept in a series since April. They had not sunk five games below .500 all year. Now 51⁄2 games back of Kansas City in the wildcard race, their playoff hopes appear bleak.
Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer, the Newhall Hart High and UCLA product, did not give up a hit until Ben Revere’s leadoff single in the fourth inning.
Carlos Santana had the Indians’ first hit, a home run, on Ramirez’s first pitch of the second inning.
The Angels tied the score in the fifth. Kole Calhoun led off with a single, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored when C.J. Cron pounded a single up the middle. Backup catcher Juan Graterol stroked a double to left, but Cron could not score, and he was stranded at third when Kaleb Cowart struck out.
With one out in the Indians’ half of the fifth, Bradley Zimmer followed a walk with a double. Three Angels executed an ideal relay, from Mike Trout in center to Andrelton Simmons at shortstop to Graterol to get an out at home plate. Graterol shifted into the third base line just as he received the throw, blocking Giovanny Urshela’s path.
To begin the sixth, Simmons singled and Luis Valbuena doubled. The Angels had three opportunities to score both players with one hit, and failed. Cron grounded out to third. After rushing to grab his batting gear, pinch-hitter Yunel Escobar struck out swinging, and Cowart tapped out to shortstop.
That was the Angels’ last and best chance to score.
Ramirez issued a seasonhigh six walks in 62⁄3 innings. He said his wildness caused the first three but the next were circumstantial.
“I think their main goal was to get on base,” Ramirez said. “I wanted to pitch around to get ground balls. I didn’t want them to get base hits.”
Because he felt confident in his curveball against lefthanded hitters, he pitched around the two righthanders he faced in the seventh. He walked them both, which hurt. With two outs in the inning, the switch-hitting Francisco Lindor shot a 1-and-2 curveball into right field to break the tie.
“It was down,” Ramirez said. “He hit it good.”
Scioscia said his club’s thin bullpen influenced his decision to not replace Ramirez. Blake Parker entered after Lindor’s single, struck out Michael Brantley on three pitches, and handled the eighth.
Bauer remained in the game for the Angels’ eighth, setting them down in order. Closer Cody Allen retired the three Angels who batted in the ninth. With two out, Valbuena’s check swing was ruled a swing, enraging the infielder and ending the game.
Pujols, 37, is hitting .233 with a .654 on-base-plusslugging percentage. Both would be career worsts. His resurgence is key to any club comeback, and publicly he remains as confident as ever.
“We’re right on it,” Pujols said. “The road trip is not over. We need to go to Toronto, try to win tomorrow, and hopefully try and win the series. That’s the way I look at this team: Everybody goes out there and tries to give all that they have. We’re not going to throw in the towel. We have a lot of games left.”
All year, the Angels have cited their remaining schedule as evidence there was plenty of time to mount a comeback. But the remainder of the season is shortening.
“We’re still right there,” Revere said. “But I know we can’t fall back too much.”