ANAHEIM — You can easily pick apart Caden Dana’s performance in the Angels’ 12-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Monday night to see where he is in his big league development.
At times Dana flashed flashed the kind of swing-and-miss stuff that gives the Angels reason to believe the 21-year-old will be part of the solution to their pitching problems.
At times he showed the lack of command that is why he still has plenty of work to do.
Dana gave up five runs in 4⅔ innings in his second start of the season, a disappointment after his encouraging outing last week. He gave up two runs in five innings against the Kansas City Royals.
“I thought he was working through it a little bit, different from what he did the other night,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “Obviously, he’s riding the adrenaline of the first start, so there is a little payback on the second one. And I think we saw some of that. The command wasn’t as sharp.”
Dana walked five, which spoiled whatever positive he may have taken from nine strikeouts.
“Giving up five runs can’t happen,” he said. “Move on from there. Make pitches when it counts. Today I didn’t do that.”
Dana also gave up two home runs – one on a hanging slider – to Royce Lewis.
Lewis grew up in Orange County as an Angels fan. He played at JSerra High in San Juan Capistrano, and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft. Although this is Lewis’ fourth season in the majors, it was the first time he’d ever played a game at Angel Stadium as a major leaguer. He’d missed the Twins’ other trips because of injuries.
Lewis hit a two-run homer in the second inning, and another two-run homer in the fifth, snapping a 3-3 tie.
“I think it was a self-fought battle,” Dana said. “I gave him the pitches that were perfect for him, for what he wanted.”
The Twins scored two more against Robert Stephenson in the sixth, one on a James Outman homer and another on a two-out error from third baseman Yoán Moncada.
It was the second of four errors for the Angels (67-77) on a sloppy night. Right fielder Matthew Lugo also misplayed a fly ball into a double.
“That was not good,” Montgomery said. “Just didn’t handle the ball well. Obviously, you can’t expect pitchers to continually overcome those mistakes. A couple of them, here and there, sure, but not when it becomes repetitive like that. It’s just one of our worst games, I thought, defensively throughout the course of the season.”
Shortstop Zach Neto acknowledged that the Angels need to do a better job of remaining focused, even as they play out the string on a disappointing season.
“Just need to focus on the game,” Neto said. “It’s a tough stretch. We’re not playing our best game of baseball. It’s a matter of powering through and finishing the season strong.”
They came into the night short-handed because Jo Adell – their hottest hitter – was a late scratch with vertigo. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe is out with a concussion, and first baseman Nolan Schanuel remains out with a wrist injury.
The best of the remaining players – Neto, Taylor Ward and Mike Trout – have all been in slumps for the past couple of weeks.
The Angels’ first two runs were produced by catcher Sebastian Rivero, who came up to replace O’Hoppe. Rivero hadn’t been in the big leagues since 2022. His two-run double in his first at-bat tied the score in the second inning. Trout followed with an RBI single to briefly put the Angels ahead.
Trout had an opportunity to help the Angels build a rally in the fifth, after Bryce Teodosio’s leadoff triple. He popped out. Moncada hit a bouncer back to the pitcher. Neto hit a flyout.
Neto did collect his 25th stolen base of the season, after a first-inning hit. Neto, who also has 25 homers, became the sixth player in Angels history to have a 25/25 season. Shohei Ohtani last did it in 2021. Trout has done it three times, most recently in 2016.
Otherwise, there wasn’t much to appreciate from this nightmarish performance.
“When I think back to the course of the season and the 144 games or so that we’ve played, that was not one that anybody should feel good about,” Montgomery said.