MIAMI — After beating the Miami Marlins on Friday night, the Angels had a chance to win their first road series in more than two months.
Instead, they got blown out twice, including a 12-3 loss on Sunday.
The Angels (45-73) are limping toward the end of the season, on pace for the first 100-loss season in franchise history. To avoid that, they need 18 victories in their remaining 14 series, which means they’ll need to win an occasional series.
They haven’t won a series since July 20-22 against the St. Louis Cardinals, and they haven’t won a series on the road since May 25-28 at Detroit.
Truth to be told, whether they lose 100 or not is irrelevant to the big picture. The organization’s moves at the trade deadline signaled that they — correctly — are not concerned with how the rest of 2026 goes. For now, they’re simply running auditions to see which players can be part of the solution in 2027 and beyond.
“At the end of the day, we are where we are, but there’s ways to get better,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “When you have a young team, there’s still a lot to prove, not just to yourself, but to everybody else. You’re still proving yourself every day. You’re still working to to improve yourself, to get yourself better on a daily basis, and I think that’s kind of the the messaging. Keep working. Keep getting better. It doesn’t matter where we are in the standings, what part of the year it is. Just get better every single day.”
Shortstop Zach Neto said the Angels should not be lacking any motivation, despite the record.
“We’re still a big league club,” Neto said. “We’ve still got a lot to play for. We come in here every single day hoping to win. We just go out there and try to play our best.”
One of the pitchers who has something to prove for the future is right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, whose first season back after missing more than a year to injuries has been a mixed bag. Sunday’s game was more of the same.
He gave up three runs in the first inning, the result of a combination of his mistakes and poor play by the defense around him.
The first batter of the game, Kyle Stowers, hit a line drive into the right field corner. Josh Lowe had trouble picking it up, so Stowers was able to easily take third. Lowe was not charged with an error, through the generosity of the official scorer.
After Rodriguez walked Xavier Edwards, he uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Stowers to score.
Otto López reached on an infield single when he hit a chopper to third baseman Denzer Guzman, whose throw was not in time. First baseman Nolan Schanuel fired the ball back to third to try to nail Edwards, but his throw sailed over the head of Neto at shortstop, allowing another run.
The Marlins scored their final run of the inning after another walk and a soft, opposite-field single.
“The first inning got out of hand there,” Rodriguez said. “I wasn’t attacking the strike zone like I needed to. Just threw way too many pitches. It’s hard for the defense to make plays when you’re out there not attacking the strike zone. That’s basically what it came down to. I gotta be better out of the gate. Gotta be in the zone a little bit more. I think if we make a pitch or two, we get out of there with maybe no runs given up or only one run given up.”
Rodriguez settled down for a couple innings, retiring eight in a row, with four strikeouts. He struck out eight in the game, the most of any of his 12 starts.
In the fourth, Rodriguez walked the first two and gave up another run. That was the end of his day.
“I think the stuff is definitely getting better each start, and that’s a positive that I can bring out of that,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously only being able to throw four innings, putting the bullpen in a bad spot. But the stuff is definitely getting better. For me, that’s something positive to look forward to.”
The Angels trailed 4-2 in the fifth, when the Marlins scored six runs against Shaun Anderson. The Angels had used Anderson dozens of times over the past two years, mostly in low leverage spots. In his this case, the Angels’ recent trades stripped down the bullpen, leaving Anderson to pitch in a more important spot.
Catcher Tyler Heineman pitched the eighth, with the Angels down by nine. He gave up one more run.
Even if the bullpen had been perfect after Rodriguez left, the Angels still would have been hard-pressed to win with the current state of their lineup. They haven’t scored more than four runs in a game since July 24. They’ve averaged 2.6 runs while losing 16 of their last 23 games.
They had only seven hits on Sunday, including a double and a homer from José Siri. Moisés Ballesteros, the only big leaguer they added at the deadline, had a single and two hard outs.
As for the extended lack of offensive production, Suzuki acknowledged that he doesn’t have much new to say about what needs to happen.
“I probably sound like a broken record, but you’ve just got to keep staying in the work, keep working on things to to better yourself every single day,” he said. “They’re doing that. Just wait for that time to click. I think the work, the process, the energy, the intent with every session that they do in the cage is good. Sometimes it takes a little bit to translate it to the field. I think the work’s been good. We’ve just got to keep working.”