ARLINGTON, Texas — In a season full of disappointment, the Angels reached a new low on Monday.
Starter Patrick Sandoval walked six and didn’t get out of the third and Angels managed just one infield hit in a 12-0 loss to the Texas Rangers, their most lopsided defeat of the season.
Infielder Eduardo Escobar was the Angels’ final pitcher of the night.
Sandoval was charged with five runs, even though he gave up just two hits that got through the infield. Otherwise he was burned by two infield hits, two errors and the walks.
The nightmarish outing marked the third time in the first four games of this trip that an Angels starter put them behind by at least five runs.
Sandoval had actually been the Angels second best starter, behind Shohei Ohtani, over the past month. Coming into this start, he had a 1.86 ERA in his previous five starts, which lowered his ERA for the season to 3.86.
The recent hot streak helped turn his season around after a disappointing start.
Sandoval struck out two of the first three hitters he faced. He would have been out of the inning except for an error by shortstop Andrew Velazquez on a routine play.
That extended the inning, and Sandoval walked two before escaping with a third strikeout.
In the second inning, he issued another walk and he gave up an infield hit. Marcus Semien then lined a clean single into center field. Mickey Moniak bobbled the ball, allowing a second run to score.
Sandoval walked three more in the third inning, ending his night. There were four runs on the board when he left the mound, and a fifth scored on a wild pitch from Griffin Canning.
Canning, who just came off the injured list after missing two weeks because of calf tightness, at least saved the bullpen by working 3-2/3 innings. His velocity was slightly up. He struck out five and walked one.
All of that was encouraging, except Canning gave up a three-run homer to Semien on his 70th and final pitch of the night.
Canning was a candidate to fill the rotation void left by Shohei Ohtani missing a start this time through the rotation, but now the Angels will need to find another solution for Wednesday’s series finale.
Even if the Angels had gotten better pitching on Monday, they still might have lost because the hitters came up empty against Max Scherzer.
The 39-year-old right-hander, who was acquired at the trade deadline, has shown signs of age this season, but the Angels couldn’t do anything with him. Their only hit in seven innings against Scherzer was a Mike Moustakas infield hit. Scherzer struck out 11.
More to come on this story.
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