ANAHEIM — The Angels found themselves in a quick hole on Monday, one that didn’t get much deeper the rest of the night but was still deep enough.
Most of their early hard-hit balls went for outs, giving Cincinnati Reds right-hander Brady Singer time to settle in and limit the Angels’ bats in the 4-1 victory at Angel Stadium.
Singer departed after allowing one run and six hits over six innings, and the Angels couldn’t rally against Cincinnati relievers Connor Phillips, Luis Mey and Scott Barlow, stranding seven runners over the final four innings.
Angels starter Victor Mederos (0-1) got off to a rocky beginning in his second MLB start, giving up two runs after five pitches, but he navigated through five innings, allowing three runs and nine hits while striking out three and walking three.
On defense, the Angels misplayed two balls into triples, one by Luis Rengifo, who was asked to play center field for the first time in his seven-year career after pinch-hitting for Bryce Teodosio in the seventh.
TJ Friedl singled up the middle on an 0-and-1 pitch to start the game, and former Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux then lined an elevated 0-and-2 changeup into the seats in right field for a 2-0 lead.
The Angels came back with a run in their half of the first after Nolan Schanuel lined a one-out single up the middle, Mike Trout walked and Taylor Ward delivered an RBI double down the right-field line to cut it to 2-1, but that was all they could get off of Singer (11-9).
The Angels (60-65) missed a chance to add to their lead in the first when Reds first baseman Spencer Steer snagged a line drive by Yoan Moncada and doubled up Ward at second.
Cincinnati (66-60) couldn’t take advantage of a leadoff triple in the third after Ward was indecisive as he charged in on a line drive by Austin Hays and the ball skipped past him, but the Reds capitalized on a leadoff triple by Elly De La Cruz in the fifth when Hays brought him home with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-1.
The next three batters then reached base on two singles and a walk, but Mederos got two infield pop-ups to avoid further damage.
Rengifo ran out to center field in the seventh inning and was quickly tested by Reds third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who hit a line drive that froze Rengifo before it sailed over his head for a triple. Matt McLain then followed with a sacrifice fly for a 4-1 lead.
The Reds also turned a double play on a hard-hit ball in the second inning that snuffed out a potential rally.
Jo Adell was at first with a leadoff single when Christian Moore smashed a one-hopper at Hayes, who bobbled the ball but still managed to turn two.
Hayes made another nice play to lead off the third when Teodosio hit a hard comebacker off the foot of Singer. The ball caromed toward Hayes, who barehanded it and threw out the speedy Teodosio at first.
That proved big as the next batter, Zach Neto, doubled off the base of the wall in left field but was left stranded at second.
Singer retired nine in a row following Neto’s double before giving up back-to-back one-out singles to Schanuel and Trout in the sixth. Ward flew out softly to right and Moncada struck out looking to end the threat.
The Angels stranded two more runners in the seventh when Neto flew out to the wall in center off Phillips.
Barlow relieved Mey with two on and two out in the eighth and struck out Adell to end the inning.
The Reds left the door open for a comeback early on by stranding nine runners through the first five innings.
More to come on this story.