ANAHEIM — The Angels found themselves in a quick hole on Monday, one that didn’t get much deeper the rest of the night but was still deep enough.
Most of their early hard-hit balls went for outs, giving Cincinnati Reds right-hander Brady Singer time to settle in and limit the Angels’ bats in the 4-1 victory at Angel Stadium.
Singer departed after allowing one run and six hits over six innings, and the Angels couldn’t rally against Cincinnati relievers Connor Phillips, Luis Mey and Scott Barlow, stranding seven runners over the final four innings.
“We hit some balls hard, we just hit them in spots,” Angels manager Ray Montgomery said. “That’s what (Singer) does, he keeps the ball on the ground, and he’s always going to have the double play at his advantage. Just one of those nights, balls got hit right at people and we didn’t come through.”
Angels starter Victor Mederos (0-1) got off to a rocky beginning in his second MLB start, giving up two runs after five pitches, but he navigated through five innings, allowing three runs and nine hits while striking out three and walking three.
“It was good, settled down after the first,” Montgomery said of Mederos. “Made a bad pitch, Lux got a changeup up and he did what he was supposed to with it. He worked through a tough first inning and settled in and gave us five good innings.”
On defense, the Angels misplayed two balls into triples, one by Luis Rengifo, who was asked to play center field for the first time since playing four games there in 2023 after pinch-hitting for Bryce Teodosio in the seventh.
“That was totally on me,” Montgomery said. “I wanted to see Luis in center field.”
TJ Friedl singled up the middle on an 0-and-1 pitch to start the game, and former Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux then lined an elevated 0-and-2 changeup into the seats in right field for a 2-0 lead.
“Got to make sure I keep that changeup down and either get a swing and miss or a take, and then go back to my stuff,” Mederos said.
The Angels came back with a run in their half of the first after Nolan Schanuel lined a one-out single up the middle, Mike Trout walked and Taylor Ward delivered an RBI double down the right-field line to cut it to 2-1, but that was all they could get off of Singer (11-9).
The Angels (60-65) missed a chance to add to their lead in the first when Reds first baseman Spencer Steer snagged a line drive by Yoán Moncada and doubled up Ward at second.
Cincinnati (66-60) couldn’t take advantage of a leadoff triple in the third after Ward was indecisive as he charged in on a line drive by Austin Hays and the ball skipped past him, but the Reds capitalized on a leadoff triple by Elly De La Cruz in the fifth when Hays brought him home with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-1.
The next three batters then reached base on two singles and a walk, but Mederos got two infield pop-ups to avoid further damage.
Rengifo ran out to center field in the seventh inning and was quickly tested by Reds third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who hit a line drive that froze Rengifo before it sailed over his head for a triple. Matt McLain then followed with a sacrifice fly for a 4-1 lead.
Adell has played 82 games in center field this season, but Montgomery is determined to keep him in right field.
“Obviously, if I would have known the first pitch would be the toughest play, hit at him, line drive,” Montgomery said. “He didn’t handle it great, but I put him out there to keep Jo in right, keep Ward in left, and I needed to see what Luis looked like in center field.”
After the ball cleared Rengifo’s head, he didn’t run full speed to retrieve it and Montgomery said that effort was discussed between innings.
“We all saw it,” Montgomery said. “After you make that mistake, you’ve got to really bust it to get back there too and, again, part of that is him being out of position, so to speak, to what he’s most comfortable.”
The Reds also turned a double play on a hard-hit ball in the second inning that snuffed out a potential rally.
Adell was at first with a leadoff single when Christian Moore smashed a one-hopper at Hayes, who bobbled the ball but still managed to turn two.
Hayes made another nice play to lead off the third when Teodosio hit a hard comebacker off the foot of Singer. The ball caromed toward Hayes, who barehanded it and threw out the speedy Teodosio at first.
That proved big as the next batter, Zach Neto, doubled off the base of the wall in left field but was left stranded at second.
“He’s a special defender over there at third base,” Montgomery said of Hayes. “We’re going to keep it away from him as often as we can. He made some really good plays. Balls were hit hard, balls were hit soft, he was on it.”
Singer retired nine in a row following Neto’s double before giving up back-to-back one-out singles to Schanuel and Trout in the sixth. Ward flew out softly to right and Moncada struck out looking to end the threat.
The Angels stranded two more runners in the seventh when Neto flew out to the wall in center off of Phillips.
“I thought he got it good enough,” Montgomery said of Neto’s long fly.
Barlow relieved Mey with two on and two out in the eighth and struck out Adell to end the inning.
The Reds left the door open for a comeback early on by stranding nine runners through the first five innings.