NEW YORK — Jake Eder learned a lesson, although it came a little too late for the Angels.
Eder, the bulk pitcher in a bullpen game, gave up four quick runs before discovering the proper mindset. Although he finished by allowing just one more run and lasting five more innings, the damage was done in what would become a 6-3 loss to the New York Mets on Wednesday afternoon.
The critical pitch was a fastball down the middle that Pete Alonso crushed for a three-run homer, putting the Angels in a 5-1 hole in the third inning.
“I came out and I wasn’t as aggressive as I needed to be right out of the gate,” said Eder, a 26-year-old left-hander. “And that kind of led me to groove some pitches, good hitters pitches. And then I think just maybe out of frustration, I just beared down and started attacking and not thinking. That’s when I’m at my best.
“Going forward, coming out the gate with that mentality. Just attack. Don’t care about anything. Just going right after guys is going to be the key for me.”
Meanwhile, the Angels can’t afford to have these kind of mistakes that cost them games.
The Angels (49-53) lost all three games in New York after winning two of three in Philadelphia.
The Angels have seven games remaining before the trade deadline. They were 4½ games out of the final American League wild card spot as they packed up for their cross-country flight. The Seattle Mariners, one of the teams they’re chasing, will begin a four-game series Thursday night at Angel Stadium.
Interim manager Ray Montgomery felt the need to share some encouraging words in the clubhouse after a rough series.
“I just said to the guys there wasn’t one ounce of quit,” Montgomery said to reporters later. “The guys kept grinding through a tough game that could have gotten away from us and didn’t. We had chances to keep it to one swing – or less than that if not for Erich – and I was proud of the way they kept fighting.”
Montgomery was referring to plate umpire Erich Bacchus, who about 30 minutes earlier had ejected Montgomery after he took issue with a critical call.
Eder collected himself well enough to allow the Angels to get back into the game, and they were within 6-3 in the eighth inning, with two runners on and Luis Rengifo at the plate. The Mets had called on closer Edwin Diaz to try for a four-out save, and he threw Rengifo six pitches – all of which were out of the strike zone. Bacchus called three of them strikes, ending the inning.
When Montgomery came out to tell Bacchus about a lineup change – LaMonte Wade Jr. going into right field – he had a comment about the strike zone, and that got him ejected.
“I said, ‘You got to keep him on the plate, Erich,’” Montgomery said. “That’s what I said. ‘And Wade …’ And he threw me out. And he never once said that the pitch was a strike. He said, ‘You can’t see from your angle.’ And I said, ‘We have things we can look at, televisions, iPads. We’re gonna know. They were balls.’”
A few minutes later, Tim Laker, one of the Angels’ hitting coaches, was also ejected.
It was the ugly end to a series in which the Angels blew leads Monday and Tuesday and then had to fight back from an early deficit in a bullpen game on Wednesday.
Relievers Brock Burke and Sam Bachman worked the first two innings, with Burke allowing a leadoff homer to Brandon Nimmo. Eder took the mound in the third just after Mike Trout’s home run – No. 396 of his career, giving him 999 RBIs – tied the score at 1-1.
It didn’t stay tied for long.
Eder walked No. 9 hitter Tyrone Taylor, an ominous start to the inning. He then hit Nimmo with a pitch. Francisco Lindor singled – snapping an 0-for-31 slump – to drive in the tie-breaking run.
After Eder managed to get superstar Juan Soto on a pop-up, he grooved a fastball to Alonso, whose three-run homer sailed 439 feet, into the second deck.
It was 5-1 at the time, but Eder gave up only one more run and he finished the game.
“After that Alonso at-bat, he seemed to dial it in and he found all his stuff,” Angels catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “I know we lost, and I know that he gave up more runs than he wanted to, but for him to go six innings there on a bullpen day to give us length going back home tomorrow, I think is big.”
D’Arnaud said the Angels need to quickly shift their focus ahead and try to get back to how they were playing before they arrived in New York.
“Guys’ heads are in a good place,” d’Arnaud said. “We just beat a great team in the Phillies two out of three. Unfortunately we got swept here, but we’ve got to keep going. The world keeps spinning, and we’ve got another series coming up.”