MIAMI — This time, Walbert Ureña didn’t escape.
Throughout his eye-opening rookie season, the Angels’ right-hander has shown a knack for minimizing the damage in the moments when his command abandoned him.
He couldn’t do it Saturday, though. He gave up four runs and didn’t get out of the third, as the Angels lost 7-0 to the Miami Marlins.
“I’m trying to stay calm every time and make pitches, but today wasn’t the best,” Ureña said. “A couple walks and they found every hole in the infield. Soft contact. I can’t control that.”
Ureña, a 22-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, was no doubt excited to show his stuff while sharing the mound with Marlins’ ace Sandy Alcantara, one of the best Dominican pitchers of this generation.
“I watched him for a lot of years,” Ureña said. “I follow him. He’s one of my favorite pitchers.”
For two innings, Ureña was matching zeros with Alcantara.
In the third, though, Ureña lost the strike zone. With one out and a runner at first, he walked No. 9 hitter Javier Sanoja. He then walked Jakob Marsee. Ureña then threw a sweeper that nicked the outside corner and Xavier Edwards punched it the other way into left field for a two-run double.
Ureña loaded the bases with his third walk of the inning. With third baseman Denzer Guzman playing in, Otto López hit a grounder that scooted into the outfield, driving in two more runs.
That was all for Ureña.
“It just seems like, not always, but he has one of those innings where it gets a little tough,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Usually he gets it to stop. He threw a lot of pitches that inning. They were having good at-bats and fouling balls off and stuff. They made it tough on him tonight.”
It was only the fourth time in his 19 starts that he allowed more than three runs. It was the fourth time that he was knocked out before finishing the fifth inning. He still has a 2.83 ERA.
At that point, the game was essentially over. The Angels (45-72) haven’t scored five runs in a game since July 24.
It wasn’t likely they were going to do it with Alcantara on the mound, either.
The 30-year-old former Cy Young winner now seems fully recovered from the season he missed because of Tommy John surgery. He has a 3.52 ERA, and he hasn’t allowed a run in his last three starts.
“He’s good, man,” Suzuki said. “I’ve faced him a bunch and he’s a good pitcher. He’s one of the best pitchers in the league for a reason. We knew runs were going to be tough to come by tonight. He did a good job.”
The Angels had one good shot at him in the seven innings he pitched Saturday.
In the third, the Angels loaded the bases on two singles, including a perfect bunt single from Tyler Heineman, and a walk to Mike Trout.
Nolan Schanuel got a first-pitch fastball right down the middle, but he hit a fly ball to center field, ending the inning.
“He said he got in on him just a tick,” Suzuki said. “That was a great at-bat. Shanny’s been swinging the bat really good. That center fielder running it down made it look pretty easy, but that was not an easy play. That was a tough one right there.”
The Angels didn’t get another baserunner until the sixth, when they were down 7-0.
The only positive in the game was right-hander Brett Kerry getting through the final 5⅔ innings after Ureña was pulled, which saved the rest of the bullpen for the series finale on Sunday.