BOSTON — The Angels’ pitching and defense let them down, keeping them from a sweep at Fenway Park.
After scoring four runs before they made an out, the Angels lost, 11-9, to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon.
Starter José Soriano, who was staked to a four-run lead before he threw a pitch, gave up five runs in the first and seven overall.
The Angels (28-33) still had one-run leads in seventh and eighth innings, but errors by right fielder Matthew Lugo and third baseman Kevin Newman led to unearned runs that tied the score twice.
“We were playing a real good game to that point,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “And then we just made some mistakes, and it ended up costing us.”
Left-hander Brock Burke, who was pitching for the third time in four days, gave up a two-run homer to Ceddanne Rafaela with one out in the ninth. The ball barely cleared the fence, 308 feet from home, inside the right-field pole.
“That’s why they call it Pesky Pole,” Washington said. “That was very pesky. He hit that perfect. That’s the way baseball goes.”
Up until that moment, the Angels had their eyes on their first sweep at Fenway Park since 2014. Nine runs should have been enough to accomplish that. The Red Sox, however, didn’t go down easily.
“It’s always tough when you score that amount of runs and don’t win the game,” Washington said. “But we didn’t do much to stop them, like they didn’t do much to stop us. Sori just didn’t have it today. He stood out there and fought, threw 100 pitches in less than four innings. They worked him, and he just couldn’t find his command.”
The Angels rode their bullpen hard in winning the first two games of the series, using five relievers each day. As the game started on Wednesday, their perfect blueprint was to score early and often, get Soriano through six or seven innings, and then let Sam Aldegheri finish with a comfortable lead.
Aldegheri, who was just called up Monday to provide some length in the bullpen, was the only reliever who hadn’t worked in the first two games of the series.
The hitters did their part, but Soriano didn’t do his.
The Angels scored four runs before they even made an out, three of them on Taylor Ward’s 17th homer of the season.
In the bottom of the first, though, Soriano gave up five runs. He allowed the first six hitters of the game to reach base, including two walks. He needed 38 pitches to get three outs.
“A tough day,” Soriano said through an interpreter. “It’s one of those days. I couldn’t control it. It was tough.”
Because of the state of the bullpen, the Angels pushed Soriano. He got them two outs into the fourth, on 99 pitches, and he left in a 7-7 game.
Both teams’ bats cooled off once the bullpens entered.
The Angels took the lead on Logan O’Hoppe’s single off of the Green Monster in the fifth, and the Red Sox got the run back with an unearned run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Lugo misplayed a ball that dropped in front of him, allowing the runner to get to third.
Chris Taylor doubled and scored on a Newman single to put the Angels back on top, 9-8, in the eighth.
Moments later, Newman made an error that opened the door for another unearned run, tying the score.
Both of the unearned runs were charged to Aldegheri, who worked 2⅓ innings in his first major-league game this season.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Washington said. “He gave us (49) pitches. Did a good job. We make that play there in eighth inning, and I think we get off that field without them scoring.”
They didn’t, and then Burke gave up the walk-off homer, sending the Angels to a loss.
The consolation was a big day from the offense. The Angels had 12 hits, including one from everyone in the starting lineup except for Jo Adell. Zach Neto had a double and a triple. Nolan Schanuel had two doubles and two RBIs. Ward drove in four runs, including a sacrifice fly.
Mike Trout had a single and two walks. Trout has at least one hit in all six games he’s played since coming off the injured list. He’s 10 for 21 since returning.
“If we keep swinging the bats like that and putting runs on the board,” Washington said, “everything’s gonna work out.”