ANAHEIM ― The Angels had not seen Seattle Mariners pitcher George Kirby since April 3, when the young right-hander made his first start of 2023. Kirby was not sharp that day. He allowed four runs in 4 ⅓ innings, and the Angels won.
That was a long 124 days ago. The Angels have since lost four of the nine players in their starting lineup that day to the injured list. Another is no longer in the organization. The lineup that Kirby faced Saturday was rebuilt with the intention of contending for a postseason berth, yet it did little to stem the tide of an ill-timed losing streak.
Kirby allowed only three hits and one run in seven innings as the Angels lost 3-2 to Seattle before an announced crowd of 35,318 at Angel Stadium. After getting swept in a three-game series in Atlanta, and coming within a few feet of tying the game in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday, the Angels have lost consecutive home games to a team immediately ahead of them in both the wild card and American League West standings.
Only Sunday’s game against the Mariners (59-52) stands between the Angels (55-55) and a second consecutive series sweep.
“Certainly the losses, the disappointment and the hurt, that’s a tough room to be in right now,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “We also know we have 51 games left, however many, and a lot of things can happen. We’ve seen a lot of messed-up baseball stuff happen in the last 50 games of a season. The last 30, if you will. Certainly with the amount right now, it hurts. Yeah, everybody in there.”
The Angels find themselves back at .500 for the 14th time this season, 9 ½ games back in the division, and 6 games back in the wild card race.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Angels used a walk by C.J. Cron and a single by Mike Moustakas to put runners on first and second against Mariners pitcher Andres Muñoz.
Brandon Drury then hit a line drive to left field, scoring Cron with the Angels’ second run of the night. But pinch runner Andrew Velazquez was forced to stop at third base when the ball hopped over the fence, a ground-rule double. Had the ball remained in the field of play, Velazquez would have scored easily.
The next batter, Hunter Renfroe, faced Muñoz with runners on second and third base. He struck out on four pitches, all fastballs, to end the game.
“The ball just barely jumps over the fence, otherwise it’s a tie game right there,” Nevin said. “Say it’s a game of inches, or whatever you want to call it. It certainly bit us today.”
The Angels’ slow start and frustrating finish overshadowed a solid outing by pitcher Tyler Anderson (5-3), who lost despite allowing only two runs in five innings. Both runs came on a double by Julio Rodriguez that hit off the top of the left-field wall in the third inning.
“It wasn’t really a bad pitch,” said Anderson. “I just threw what he was looking for there.”
The changeup ― the pitch Rodriguez was looking for ― was overwhelmingly effective for Anderson. He used it to accumulate five of his six strikeouts, and a whopping 12 whiffs on 22 swings.
Since his ERA peaked at 5.80 on June 12, Anderson has allowed two runs or fewer in five of his last seven starts. His ERA is down to 4.92.
“My body’s feeling a little better,” he said. “I’m getting my delivery a little better.”
Nevin wasn’t keen on Anderson facing Rodriguez a third time, so he pulled the left-hander after only 80 pitches ― his second-lowest pitch count in 19 starts this season.
“I know what Julio does his third time around, especially to left-handers,” Nevin said. “I didn’t expect Tyler to like it at all. I felt that was the best way for us to win the game.”
After Dominic Leone threw two scoreless innings in relief, Seattle tacked on a needed insurance run in the eighth inning against Angels reliever Jose Soriano.
The Angels got their only run off Kirby in the bottom of the third inning on a solo home run by Randal Grichuk. It was Grichuk’s fourth career homer in Angel Stadium, and his first as a member of the team that selected him in the first round of the 2009 draft.
Cron saw his 14-game hitting streak come to an end with an 0 for 3 night. It had been the longest active hitting streak in MLB.