Angels routed by Tigers for 4th straight loss

ANAHEIM — One night after a heart-wrenching, ninth-inning loss in their series opener against the Detroit Tigers, the Angels lost in much more direct fashion on Saturday night.

They got blown out.

The Tigers shelled Grayson Rodriguez for six runs in the first two innings, and the Angels never came close to mounting a comeback against Tarik Skubal en route to a 7-0 loss at home.

The Angels have lost four in a row and 12 of their last 14. With Kansas City’s win earlier in the day, the Angels (38-61) remain in sole possession of MLB’s worst record.

The Tigers jumped on Rodriguez immediately. Kevin McGonigle led off the game with a double. Dillon Dingler was hit by a pitch and Colt Keith laced an RBI single to center, making it 1-0 Tigers before the Angels recorded an out.

Two batters later, Spencer Torkelson launched a three-run homer over the left-center wall to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead just five batters into the game.

The second inning was more of the same. The first three Tigers batters reached base on a pair of hard singles and another hit batter. With the bases loaded and no outs, Keith and Riley Greene lifted consecutive sacrifice flies to make it 6-0 Tigers.

In his first 11 batters, Rodriguez allowed six runs, five hits, two hit batters and a walk.

Rodriguez rebounded to hold the Tigers scoreless over the next two innings, but the damage was already done. Overall, Rodriguez pitched four innings, allowed seven hits and six runs, walked one and struck out three. His ERA ballooned to 8.23.

The Angels bullpen didn’t fare much better. Brent Suter entered in the fifth and promptly allowed Torkelson’s second home run of the game, a 420-foot blast that cleared the hedges beyond the center-field wall.

With Skubal on the mound, that deficit was far too much for the slumping Angels’ offense to overcome. The two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner took his early lead and mowed down the Angels hitters with ease. He pitched seven shutout innings, allowed five hits, walked none and struck out nine on just 87 pitches.

The Angels’ only serious threat against Skubal came in the sixth inning when singles by Logan O’Hoppe and Mike Trout gave them runners on first and second with one out. Skubal extinguished it immediately, inducing a weak ground ball from Vaughn Grissom for an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

The Angels loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against reliever Jacob Waguespack, but Grissom lined out to center to end their last serious offensive threat of the night.

More to come on this story.