Not much goes right for losing Angels
They stumble to fifth defeat in seven games but avoid losing Trout to serious injury.
HOUSTON — The Angels were facing a pitcher not exactly known for racking up strikeouts. They were facing a Houston Astros lineup amid a weeklong slump. They were trying to bounce back from a gut-wrenching defeat the day before.
Instead, they stumbled to their fifth loss in their last seven games.
In an 8-2 defeat at Minute Maid Park, the Angels saw few things go right. They recorded just eight hits and struck out 15 times, including eight through the first three innings against Astros starter Cristian Javier. Their own starter, Alex Cobb, lasted just 2 /3 innings, surrendering five runs (four earned) with six hits, three walks and four strikeouts.
Worst of all, Mike Trout left the game in the fifth inning with a left elbow contusion after getting hit by a pitch the inning before .
Luckily for the Angels, it doesn’t seem as though Trout’s injury is serious. Manager Joe Maddon said he thinks Trout should be able to play Friday. Trout said his bruised elbow was already getting better.
But there wasn’t much else encouraging about the Angels’ series-opener in Houston, starting the weekend flat in a ballpark where they’ve now won only three of their last 18 games.
Here are three observations from Thursday.
Trout’s elbow contusion
In a full count in the fourth inning, Javier threw Trout a 93.1-mph fastball up and in. The ball hit Trout, whose arm was extended out from his body, directly on his elbow pad.
“It didn’t feel like it hit any of the pad,” Trout said. “But obviously the pad helped me a lot.”
Trout immediately reeled away in pain, walking slowly to first base. From the dugout, an Angels trainer ran toward the three-time MVP, with Maddon close behind.
Trout stayed in the game to run the bases and played in the field during the bottom of the fourth.
But in the top of the fifth, Scott Schebler walked out on deck in Trout’s place and took over for him defensively the next half inning.
Though it looked on the slow-motion replay that Trout had moved his elbow into the pitch, he said he wasn’t trying to intentionally get hit.
“I thought it was a slider,” he said. “Then at the last second, tried to get out of the way. When I turned my head, my elbow flew out.”
In an exchange captured on the game broadcast, Trout told Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, “If I didn’t have a pad, bro …” and then simply shook his head, seemingly indicating the worst-case scenario had been averted.
Crooked numbers
The Angels escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning — then promptly surrendered three runs apiece in the second and third, allowing an Astros lineup that had averaged fewer than three runs per game during a 1-9 skid to quickly pull away.
Aledmys Díaz and Myles Straw began the second with a double and triple, respectively, before Albert Pujols committed an error trying to field a ball at first. Cobb then hit a batter and walked two others, the latter scoring a run with the bases loaded.
The Astros came right back and added three more in the third.
After Martín Maldonado doubled and Alex Bregman drove him home with a single, Cobb was replaced by lefthander Alex Claudio with two outs.
Instead of keeping the deficit at four, Claudio gave up a ground-rule double to Michael Brantley and a tworun single to Bregman that made it 6-0.
Injured trio travels
The Angels did have some good news Thursday.
Third baseman Anthony Rendon (left groin strain), catcher Max Stassi (left thumb sprain) and outfielder Juan Lagares (left calf strain) remain on the 10-day injured list but made the trip with the team.