ANAHEIM — The Angels’ pitching didn’t show up on Saturday night, and this time the hitters didn’t bail them out.
The Angels lost, 6-2, to the Miami Marlins, ending an eight-game winning streak that was largely fueled by an offense that slugged its way past any other deficiencies.
The Angels (25-26) scored more than seven runs per game during the streak, but all they managed on Saturday was a run on a Taylor Ward sacrifice fly and one in the ninth on a Jorge Soler RBI single.
Ward doubled in the ninth inning, setting an Angels’ record with an extra-base hit in 10 straight games.
It was a rough start for José Soriano, but even his bad games are not that bad because he keeps the ball on the ground.
Soriano walked three and was often either behind in the count or working deep counts. He threw just 52 strikes among his 97 pitches. Soriano started 13 of 23 hitters with a ball. Still, Soriano got 12 of his 14 outs on the ground, including a double play.
“He was out of whack,” Manager Ron Washington said. “It seemed like he couldn’t get comfortable out there with anything he tried to throw. I’ve never seen him throw that many balls as he did today. It just didn’t seem like he could get comfortable on that mound tonight.”
Soriano lasted 4⅔ innings and gave up three runs, leaving with the Angels down 3-1.
“One of those days you keep trying and trying, and you don’t get at the results that you want,” Soriano said through an interpreter.
Any chance the Angels had at overcoming the two-run deficit left by Soriano was significantly diminished with a sloppy outing from top prospect Caden Dana.
The Angels called up Dana earlier in the day to provide some length for the bullpen.
Dana alternated strikeouts and walks to the first four hitters. He was one strike from escaping the inning when his 1-and-2 changeup to Connor Norby got too much of the plate. Norby hit a three-run homer.
It took another 16 pitches for Dana to get the third out, walking off the mound after throwing 41 pitches.
At least Dana was able to rebound from that inning to take something positive from the game. He finished the game with two scoreless innings on 22 pitches.
“Well, after the first inning, he settled in and he saved the bullpen,” Washington said. “The last two innings he gave us was huge. Got a chance to stay away from some guys that we needed to keep down (in the bullpen).”
Twice this season, the Angels have summoned Dana for some mop-up work, and he’s allowed five earned runs in six innings, with five walks and six strikeouts. After the game, he was optioned back to Triple-A. The Angels will recall left-hander Jake Eder to be the long man for Sunday.
At the plate, the Angels couldn’t do anything with Marlins starter Cal Quantrill, who was effective a couple of years ago but brought a 6.37 ERA into this game.
In the first three innings, the only one to reach base against him was Jo Adell, who was then picked off.
The Angels had a chance at a big inning in the fourth, when Zach Neto doubled and then Yoán Moncada reached on a one-out infield single, but all they managed was Ward’s fly ball.
Ward struck out to end the sixth, stranding two runners in a 3-1 game.
“We just didn’t muster up any type of offense tonight and put a threat on,” Washington said.