MILWAUKEE — Another day, another injury and ultimately, another loss for the Angels.
Starting pitcher Jose Soriano was the latest Angels player bitten by the injury bug after suffering a right forearm contusion when he was hit by a 107 mile-per-hour line drive off the bat of the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jake Bauers during the second inning of the Angels’ 9-2 loss to the Brewers on Wednesday night.
“It was pretty scary,” Soriano said.
Soriano underwent X-rays, which came back negative.
“He’s sore, which is to be expected,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “Taking a shot like that is tough but we’re thankful that it’s not broken.”
With Soriano’s outing done far earlier than expected, the Angels’ bullpen was forced into action, starting with right-hander Connor Brogdon who took over for Soriano with one out and the bases loaded.
Things quickly unraveled as Brogdon gave up RBI singles to each of his first two batters to make it a 2-0 game. He recorded the second out of the inning by getting No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz to fly out to center field, but he fell behind, 3-and-0 to Sal Frelick who capped off a nine-pitch battle by blasting a changeup down the middle 382 feet to right-center for his 11th home run of the season.
The early lead made life easy for Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff (7-2). Just as Freddy Peralta did in the series opener on Tuesday, the veteran right-hander breezed through the Angels’ lineup, allowing just a run on two hits while striking out nine over five innings.
The Angels’ best chance against Woodruff came in the top of the second. Jo Adell reached on interference by Brewers catcher William Contreras to lead off the inning then moved to third on Oswald Peraza’s one-out single.
Peraza stole second base, putting runners in scoring position for rookie Denzer Guzman, who struck out on three straight pitches. Sebastian Rivero then worked his way back from an 0-and-2 count before swinging at a 90 mph cutter away for strike three to end the inning.
“We had some chances and I thought we put some good at-bats together in the second,” Montgomery said. “We ran (Woodruff’s) pitch count up a little but but just couldn’t cash in.”
The only blip on Woodruff’s line came in the fourth, when Taylor Ward hit the first of his two home runs. He added another solo shot in the sixth against reliever Nick Mears to increase his total to 33 for the season, putting him second behind Jo Adell’s team-leading 36.
“Those were quality (at-bats) for sure,” Montgomery said. “To see him do that … this guy works every day.”
It was Ward’s first multi-homer game since April 10, when he hit a pair in an 11-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. He came into Thursday’s game with just two home runs over his last 28 games and was batting just .155 (15 for 97) during that stretch with 27 strikeouts.
“I’ve been scuffling,” Ward said. “You can tell when your mechanics are off – you flare balls to right and roll balls over to third – so just getting together with (hitting coach Johnny Washington) and those guys and working through things was, I think, the biggest difference today.
Ward’s second homer of the day also gave him 100 RBIs for the first time in his career.
“It’s been an up-and-down year but to get to this mark, I’m very excited for it and very grateful for it,” Ward said.
Other than that, the Angels (69-83) couldn’t muster anything against Milwaukee’s bullpen while their own relief corps didn’t allow another earned run until the eighth, when Blake Perkins drove in a pair with a triple off Jose Urena.
The loss was the Angels’ sixth in a row, their second-longest skid of the season and one short of the season-high set from April 25-May 2 against the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers.
The Brewers (93-59) reduced their magic number to win the NL Central title to six and maintained their slim lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for the top seed in the National League playoffs.