EXTRA TOUGH
Angels rally late but lose to Rays in 10 innings, snapping 3-game streak
ANAHEIM >> The Angels’ magical streak came to an anti-climactic end on Wednesday.
Although Taylor Ward’s game-tying home run in the eighth inning seemed right in line with the way things had been going for the Angels during their three-game winning streak, they nonetheless lost 4-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays in 10 innings.
The Angels had won three in a row, with a come-from-behind, walk-off victory on Sunday, a Shohei Ohtani grand slam on Monday and a Reid Detmers no-hitter on Tuesday.
After Ward tied the score on Wednesday with the Angels’ first pinch-hit homer since 2019, the magic stopped.
In the 10th, left-hander Aaron Loup allowed a leadoff double to Vidal Brujan, which drove in the automatic runner from second. Brujan then stole third and scored an insurance run on a Harold Ramirez single.
In the bottom of the 10th, Mike Trout drew a one-out walk as a pinch-hitter, filling the open base behind the automatic runner. Ward grounded into a force and then Brandon Marsh struck out to end it.
“We absolutely pitched well enough to win that game but so did they,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “The extra-inning rule got us. That’s just the way it’s rolling right now, but I have no issues. We just had a 4-2 homestand, coming off a really good road trip. You’re not going to win them all.”
Although the Angels came into the game leading the majors in runs, they didn’t do much offensively in seven innings against Rays left-hander Shane McLanahan. He shut them down on three singles and a walk, striking out 11.
It didn’t help that the Angels started the game without Trout or Ward, their two hottest hitters. Trout had gotten the day off, as Maddon continues to carefully manage his workload following an injury-shortened season. Ward was out for the third straight game as a precaution because of a tight hamstring.
He got the call to pinchhit in the eighth inning, with the Angels trailing 2-0. With one out and a runner at first, Ward spun on a 95 mph inside fastball and pulled it just inside the left field pole, for a game-tying homer.
The homer took Ohtani off the hook for a loss on a day that he gave up one run in six innings.
Ohtani’s performance on the mound was marred only by a hanging slider that Kevin Kiermaier hit over the center field fence. Besides that, his only trouble was in the third, when he worked around two walks. He retired Wander Franco and JiMan Choi to strand the runners.
Ohtani said he didn’t feel great, which showed up in the fact that his average fastball was down from 97.7 mph to 96.0. He even threw one at 93.3 mph.
“Looking at my velocity, I didn’t feel my best today,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “But I was able to get through six innings.”
Ohtani said he’s “not worried at all,” that he has some sort of injury, only fatigue. When asked if he might need some more days off, he said: “Personally I don’t think need any days. I want to keep on going. It’s up to Joe.”
Maddon has made it clear since the start of last season that Ohtani’s days off would be determined by Ohtani, and obviously, the plan worked in 2021. So far this season, Ohtani has not performed as well at the plate, but he’s been slightly better on the mound.
Six starts into the season, Ohtani has a 2.78 ERA and a WHIP of 0.96, down from 3.18 and 1.09 last season. He had 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings, up from 10.8. His strikeout-walk ratio is 6.6, up from 3.55.
He had been on the hook for his third loss of the season — which would have surpassed last year’s total — before the Angels tied the score in the eighth.