ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the past three months, the Angels’ hitters have ranged from cold to frozen solid, with only a few brief moments of productivity.
Lately, they’ve been at their worst again, including a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
The Angels have now scored five runs in the first four games of this trip, squeaking out one victory when Patrick Sandoval pitched a 1-0 shutout on Friday.
On Monday, left-hander Tucker Davidson managed to get through five innings, allowing just two runs, and then the Angels’ bullpen was solid, but the hitters produced little.
The Angels had six singles and four walks, but they struck out 12 times.
The Angels (52-70) didn’t score until they strung together three straight soft singles in the fifth inning. Andrew Velazquez reached on an infield hit on a dribbler in front of the plate, and then David Fletcher and Mike Trout both dropped bloopers into the outfield.
The Angels had a chance in the sixth after two walks, prompting Manager Phil Nevin to call on Shohei Ohtani to pinch-hit. He struck out.
Fletcher singled with one out in the seventh, but Trout and Luis Rengifo each failed to drive him in. Jo Adell drew a one-out walk in the eighth. He stole second, so a single could have driven in the tying run, but Jared Walsh and Kurt Suzuki struck out.
Davidson didn’t deserve a loss after successfully weaving around traffic throughout his outing. Davidson allowed six hits and three walks.
But he got through all that with only two runs scoring, one on a Randy Arozarena homer in the fifth. The Angels turned double plays in the third and fourth to help Davidson minimize the damage.
In the third, he caught a break. Arozarena took off from first. As second baseman David Fletcher moved to cover the bag, Isaac Paredes hit a ground ball directly at him. Fletcher fielded it with his foot on the bag and fired to first for the double play.
Davidson increased the use of his changeup, which the Angels modified as soon as he was acquired from the Atlanta Braves. After not throwing it at all in his first Angels start and then throwing seven in his second start, Davidson threw the pitch 13 times on Monday night.
Davidson gave up a single and got a double play on the changeup. The Rays whiffed on one of their five swings at the pitch.
Three starts into his Angels career, Davidson has allowed 10 runs in 15 innings. Four of the runs scored on one swing in his first start against the Seattle Mariners.
