OAKLAND — The season can’t end soon enough for the Angels.
The Angels lost 10-6 to the Oakland A’s on Sunday, getting swept by a team that had the worst record in the majors.
The Angels had a three-run lead in the sixth inning, and then proceeded to give up 10 runs over two innings filled with misplaced pitches and one critical error.
“Anytime anytime you lose, it’s frustrating,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “I think the way we’ve lost can add to that if you will. We didn’t score enough runs the first two days and today we had two innings unravel on us.”
In the sixth, starter Tyler Anderson and reliever Andrew Wantz each threw fastballs over the middle, allowing a pair of two-run homers to turn a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 deficit.
In the seventh, just after the Angels had tied the game at 4 on a Luis Rengifo homer, right-hander José Soriano fielded a comebacker that should have been a routine, inning-ending double play.
Instead, he threw the ball into center field, opening the floodgates for the A’s to score six runs.
“When mistakes are made, that’s where veteran players will come up, make good pitches and make plays behind you,” Nevin said. “Good ones do that. And it’s a learning process. You gotta make good pitches after you make a mistake. You’ve heard me say it a million times. The next pitch is too important for worry about the last one.”
The Angels (64-73) have lost six of their last seven games to fall to nine games under .500, their low point for the season.
Things started well in this series finale, with Eduardo Escobar hitting a two-run homer and Chad Wallach adding an RBI double in the fourth to put the Angels up 3-0.
In the bottom of the inning, Anderson walked the bases loaded, but escaped with two strikeouts and a popout.
Anderson lost his no-hit bid and his shutout in a span of a couple minutes in the sixth inning.
Zack Gelof hit a chopper to Escobar at third. His throw to first was initially judged by umpire Bill Miller to be in time. Upon review, it was called an infield hit.
Anderson’s next pitch was a fastball over the middle of the plate, which Ryan Noda crushed for a two-run homer.
“I walked the guy previous at-bat, him him before that,” Anderson said, “so I was trying to throw strike one. It was in the middle of the plate and that hurts you.”
An out later, Anderson gave up a single and his day was over after 5 1/3 innings.
Wantz entered and promptly allowed a two-run homer to Seth Brown to give the A’s a 4-3 lead. Wallach, the catcher, was set up outside and Wantz threw the pitch over the middle of the plate.
The Angels still had a chance to win until Soriano’s error and subsequent meltdown in the seventh. The rookie right-hander came into the game with a 3.31 ERA, at times looking like a reliable back-end reliever and at other times looking like he did on Sunday.
“He’s a really talented pitcher, and he’s gonna pitch for a long time,” Nevin said. “He’ll get a lot of big outs. He already has. He’s somebody I’m gonna trust going forward.”