ANAHEIM — The Angels were so close again.
Despite having one-run leads in the seventh and ninth innings, the Angels lost, 7-4, to the Washington Nationals in 11 innings on Sunday, a loss that would rank as one of their most frustrating of the season even if it didn’t come when they were sitting on the verge of a winning record.
The Angels (41-42) have had three chances to get over .500 in the past two months, and they’ve lost all three times. They haven’t been over .500 since they were 11-10.
It is tough,” Taylor Ward said. “That can’t happen. Honestly.”
Connor Brogdon, the Angels’ seventh pitcher of the day, gave up hits to three of the first four batters he faced in the 11th, on the way to allowing three runs.
This was an ugly game at times, with defensive mistakes leading to the Nationals scoring the tying runs in the seventh and ninth innings.
The Angels also failed to convert on their scoring opportunities when they had chances to increase the lead or win the game.
The Angels had the leadoff man on in the eighth and ninth, and they had the automatic runner at second in the 10th and 11th, and they couldn’t get any of those runners home.
Ward, who had three doubles in the game, looked at three consecutive strikes with the winning run at second in the 10th.
“That can’t happen either,” Ward said. “I don’t know why I didn’t pull the trigger on those first two pitches. That’s something I’m going to be kicking myself for.”
But the Angels could have won it before all of that if not for two crushing mistakes in the field.
The Angels had a 3-2 lead with two outs in the seventh when Ryan Zeferjahn walked No. 9 hitter Jacob Young after getting ahead of him, 0-and-2. Zeferjahn then got CJ Abrams to hit a routine popup in shallow center, but shortstop Kevin Newman lost it in the sun. The ball dropped, and Young scored.
“Really frustrating,” Newman said. “Especially just being a pop-up, not really a difficult play by any means. It just found its way right into the middle of the sun. I think that’s the first time that’s happened my whole career. It legitimately got right in the middle of it and affected my ability to actually catch it. Really tough break there. Obviously feel for Zef too, because I want to catch that, and keep that run from scoring and keep the lead. It’s just unfortunate.”
After the Angels retook the lead in the bottom of the inning, closer Kenley Jansen was on the mound in the ninth. Daylen Lile started the inning with a bouncer up the first base line and first baseman Nolan Schanuel let it get past him, for what was ruled a double.
“That’s a ball he should probably come in on and come after right away, instead of kind of laying back, because you’re going to get a tough hop on that one after that,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “We saw that. I wish he’d just come in firm and grabbed it before even creating the short hop. That’s what we work on.”
That led to the tying run on Young’s single. It was the first blown save of the season for Jansen.
Schanuel misplayed another ball in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and one out in a tie game, he fielded a hard grounder. Instead of throwing home immediately for the force, he went to first. That took off the force at the plate, and his throw was too wide for catcher Logan O’Hoppe to make a tag.
“On that play, in that situation, come home, get the out of the plate at the very least, keep that right where it is score-wise,” Montgomery said. “And I literally think he knew it the second after. I get the intent. I’ve been in that position at first, but I understand what he was thinking. But I think coming home would have the better choice.”
That resulted in the second run being charged to starter Jack Kochanowicz, who lasted only four-plus innings.
Kochanowicz got through the first three innings on just 35 pitches, without allowing a run. He gave up a run in the fourth on two hits and a walk — all with two outs — and in the fifth, he didn’t get an out. He was pulled after a leadoff walk and a double.
He didn’t take a loss because the Angels kept coming back from their mistakes with big hits.
After the Nationals took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, the Angels tied it on Jo Adell’s RBI single in the sixth and took the lead when Christian Moore added an RBI single. Moore has eight RBIs and all of them have either tied the game or given the Angels the lead.
After the popup that Newman lost in the sun, the Angels regained the lead on a Luis Rengifo triple and a wild pitch.
After the run in the ninth, though, the Angels couldn’t score again.
“We had chances,” Montgomery said. “We had people in the right spots. We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed to. I have no problem with the effort and the AB’s along the way and how we went about it. It’s just, unfortunately, we didn’t get the big hit when we needed to. And they did.”