ANAHEIM — The Angels were bitten by two trades – made by two general managers, six years apart – in their 6-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
Right-hander Kyle Bradish, who the Angels traded to the Orioles as a minor leaguer in 2019, pitched eight shutout innings, silencing an Angels team that had been one of baseball’s highest-scoring teams for about a month.
To make things even worse, the first run of the night came off the bat of Taylor Ward, who homered in his first at-bat against his former team.
The Angels took Bradish in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. General Manager Billy Eppler traded Bradish and three other minor-league pitchers to the Orioles for right-hander Dylan Bundy a year later.
Bradish had his breakthrough season in 2023, with a 2.83 ERA in 30 starts. In one of those games he allowed one run in 6⅔ innings against the Angels. Tommy John surgery took a chunk out of the next couple of years, but he looked as good as the pre-surgery version on Monday night.
The Angels’ best shot at him came in the first inning, when Nolan Schanuel and Jo Adell had back-to-back one-out singles. Jorge Soler, who didn’t face any live pitching before he was activated from a two-week stint on the injured list, then struck out. Wade Meckler grounded out.
The Angels (32-48) didn’t get another runner into scoring position until the sixth inning, when they were down 5-0.
“I thought they were taking good swings early in the count, just missing them,” Manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Really could have gone either way, right? If they swing early in the count and hit rockets on them. It’s just one of those things where he did a good job of missing barrels and moving the ball around.”
Angels starter Sam Aldegheri dug the hole, allowing five runs in 4⅔ innings.
The first of those came on his fourth pitch of the game, when Ward drilled a homer. It came just moments before the Angels played a Ward montage on the video board, thanking him for his time in Anaheim. Current GM Perry Minasian traded Ward to the Orioles for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez in November.
Aldegheri settled down over the next few innings, before stumbling in the fourth. He issued a leadoff walk to Gunnar Henderson and then he gave up a single to Pete Alonso. Aldegheri then threw a 1-and-2 changeup to Coby Mayo, who yanked it just over the short fence in left field, putting the Angels down 4-0.
“I think he was just sitting on that pitch,” Aldegheri said. “Looking back, it should have been a different pitch maybe. Probably not the best location. Same with the first home run against Ward.”
In the fifth inning, the Orioles added another run after a leadoff single from Jeremiah Jackson, who was also traded by the Angels. They shipped Jackson to the New York Mets for reliever Dominic Leone in their ill-fated attempt to contend in 2023. The Angels let Leone go on waivers a month later. The Mets dumped Jackson and the Orioles grabbed him.
Aldegheri, who the Angels acquired in a deadline trade for Carlos Estévez in 2024, has not taken advantage of his opportunity in the rotation.
Aldegheri has a 5.47 ERA through 24⅔ innings. The Angels are thin on options to replace him in the rotation, though. Right-hander George Klassen – who came in the same trade as Aldegheri – could be next in line. He has a 2.25 ERA in his last five starts at Triple-A Salt Lake.
“I’m I’m trying to do my best every day, coming to the field every day, work on everything,” Aldegheri said. “Trying to get better every day. At this point I think it sometimes it’s just luck. This is how baseball goes. Sometimes it can go bad, and sometimes it’s good. It’s just a roller coaster. Hopefully the next outing is going to be better.”
The Angels’ lone run came on a ninth-inning homer from Soler.