Angels fall flat after strong start
They waste Moniak’s leadoff home run as Trout and Ohtani are held hitless in defeat.
BALTIMORE — Ryan Mountcastle was out of the starting lineup for Baltimore, although manager Brandon Hyde said he’d probably play.
That move came earlier than expected.
Mountcastle entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning and doubled, then he hit a two-run homer in the sixth to help the Orioles beat the Angels 7-3 on Tuesday night.
“I wasn’t anticipating [using] Mounty that early in the game,” Hyde said. “A couple things happened, that I felt that was the right spot to use him there.”
Mickey Moniak homered to start the top of the first, but Ryan O’Hearn answered for the Orioles. Baltimore chased Angels right-hander Chase Silseth when Tarrin Vavra and Jorge Mateo hit RBI singles in the fourth.
Zach Neto hit an RBI single for the Angels in the fifth and Gio Urshela added one in the sixth.
Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout each went 0 for 4 after Ohtani reached base five times a night earlier.
Dean Kremer (5-1) rebounded after giving up Moniak’s homer to lead off the game, winning his third consecutive start, and O’Hearn also homered for Baltimore. O’Hearn started as the Orioles’ designated hitter in the No. 9 spot in the batting order, but after his solo shot in the second tied the score at one, Mountcastle pinch-hit for him after the Angels lifted Silseth in the fourth and replaced him with lefty Tucker Davidson.
“We got a lot of production out of the No. 9 spot today,” Hyde said. “Not by design, to be honest with you.”
Mountcastle greeted Davidson with a double that left men on second and third, and Cedric Mullins followed with an RBI grounder that made it 4-1 and capped Baltimore’s three-run inning.
“I saw their guy’s pitch count was going up,” Mountcastle said. “They were bringing a lefty out of the ’pen, and it was a close game. So I wasn’t super surprised.”
After the Angels pulled within one, the Orioles scored three more runs in the sixth.