BALTIMORE — In the first two games of their series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Angels could take some solace in the fact that they pitched well in one and hit well in the other, even though they ultimately lost both.
In the finale, they didn’t do anything well.
The Angels lost, 11-2, to the Orioles on a rainy Sunday afternoon, a day when their pitching, hitting and defense all failed when it mattered most.
“It’s baseball,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “We’ve been swept before. We just got to sulk on it for like five minutes. Get over it and move on to the next series. It’s really all we can do.”
The Angels (33-37) had moved within a game of .500 with three straight victories against the Athletics before this series. Now, they are headed to New York for a four-game series against one of baseball’s best teams.
“Not in a panic,” first baseman Nolan Schanuel said. “We had a bad series. It happens. With this group of guys, I think we’ll bounce back quick. Going to New York, hopefully set a statement early. We got four there. So come out, get a series. Go back home. Play the Astros and set a tone for our division.”
If the Angels are to be in position for the standings to be relevant, they’ll need to play better than they did this weekend, when each part of the team fell apart at various times.
Starter Yusei Kikuchi made just enough bad pitches and one critical throwing error, overshadowing his season-high 10 strikeouts.
Two of the five runs charged to Kikuchi were unearned, with third baseman Kevin Newman’s first-inning error leading to one. Kikuchi followed the error by giving up a Ramón Urías homer on a hanging slider.
At the plate, the Angels managed only five hits, including Schanuel’s first-inning solo homer.
The Angels had a chance to get back in the game when they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, down by three. Jo Adell and pinch-hitter LaMonte Wade Jr. both struck out.
“It looks bad because of the way the day ended, but if we could have got anything together offensively in this series, it would have been a different series,” Manager Ron Washington said.
Just after the Angels failed to score in the top of the seventh, right-hander Connor Brogdon gave up a grand slam to Gary Sanchez in the bottom of the inning. Closer Kenley Jansen, who hadn’t pitched since Tuesday, got some work in the eighth. He gave up a two-run homer to Jordan Westburg.
That turned the game into a blowout, which wasn’t indicative of the way it looked for most of the afternoon.
One of the bright signs was Kikuchi. He got 18 whiffs and 13 called strikes among his 92 pitches, which is an above average percentage. He issued only two walks.
“I think the stuff was there,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “I think that was the best stuff I had this season. Obviously, you saw the amount of strikeouts I had. But obviously the results weren’t there. So I was disappointed that we lost the game.”
The Angels trailed 3-2, and Kikuchi was an out away from a quality start, when everything went downhill in the sixth.
With two outs and a runner at first, speedy Cedric Mullins dropped a perfect bunt down the third-base line. Kikuchi picked it up and threw it into the right field corner, allowing a run to score. It was ruled a hit and an error, because even a good throw would probably not have gotten Mullins.
“I think if I made a good throw, I’d probably had him out,” Kikuchi said. “But the ball was a little slick, a little wet, so it was hard to get the grip on it. In hindsight, I probably should have held on to it, but the feeling of wanting to get him out was greater than holding on to it.”
Kikuchi then gave up a run-scoring double, putting the Angels down 5-2.
Immediately after that inning, the Angels briefly threatened getting back into the game. Taylor Ward singled, Jorge Soler walked and, an out later, Luis Rengifo singled, to load the bases. Adell, who had been one of the Angels’ hottest hitters lately, took a called third strike. Wade then was called out on a two-strike half swing.
“We had opportunities in all three of these games, and they did what they needed to do to win it and we didn’t do what we needed to win,” Washington said. “So we’ve got to go to New York and get back on track. No one’s lost confidence in that room in there. We’ve just got to go play better baseball.”