They go down swinging again
Angels served another loss as they scuffle at the plate with 12 strikeouts, including one from Ohtani in cameo.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Randy Arozarena hit a tiebreaking home run in the fifth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Angels 2-1 on Monday night.
Jeffrey Springs pitched effectively into the sixth inning for the Rays, who have won eight of 10 and moved a half-game ahead of Toronto and Seattle in the American League wild-card race.
Arozarena hit his 17th homer of the season off Angels starter Tucker Davidson (2-4) after Mike Trout had tied the score in the fifth with an RBI single.
“All I was trying to do is make good contact,” Arozarena said through an interpreter. “As everyone knows, all I try to do is hit the ball hard a lot of the time, and I was able to do it on that one. It was a beneficial run for us because it ended up giving us the lead.” And as it turned out, the game. A hot Arozarena was a familiar sight to Angels interim manager Phil Nevin, who watched some of Arozarena’s record-setting 2020 postseason (10 home runs and 29 hits) as a New York Yankees coach.
“He’s swinging the bat good, and believe me, I’ve seen it a lot,” Nevin said. “[I have] nightmares from a couple of years ago.”
Arozarena has five home runs and 18 RBIs in 18 games in August.
Losing for the sixth time in seven games, the Angels struck out 12 times and left nine men on base.
Shohei Ohtani struck out in a pinch-hit appearance with two men on in the sixth inning. The reigning AL most valuable player and two-way star left his mound start Sunday at Detroit after four innings because of a stomach virus.
Springs (6-3) gave up one run and five hits in 5 ⁄3 innings, striking
2 out seven. Three of the Angels’ hits came in the fifth inning, including Trout’s two-out single.
Shawn Armstrong pitched the ninth to earn his first save for the Rays.
Davidson gave up two runs and six hits in five innings. It was the best of his three starts for the Angels since they acquired him from Atlanta on Aug. 2, but the mistake to Arozarena was costly.
“It was supposed to be a fastball in, and it just ran out over the plate,” Davidson said. “I threw one there earlier and he missed it. He didn’t miss that one.”
Videos taken by both teams confirmed that Trout’s RBI single actually came off the bat twice.
“It just didn’t feel right,” Trout said. “When I hit the ball, I knew something was weird. Then I saw the flight of the ball was weird too. It wasn’t like a true flight.”
Left-hander José Suarez (4-5, 4.12 ERA), who pitched 51⁄3 perfect innings last Tuesday before taking a loss against Seattle, will pitch for the Angels on Tuesday night against Rays right-hander Corey Kluber (7-7, 4.33).