Noah Syndergaard gave an overworked Angels bullpen a much-needed breather Monday night, throwing 7 1/3 innings against the Kansas City Royals after relievers had combined for 19 innings in a five-game, four-day series at Seattle.
The Angels’ offense did no such favors for Syndergaard, mustering two runs and seven hits in a 6-2 loss before 22,234 at Angel Stadium, their three-game winning streak snapped by a last-place team with a 24-42 record.
An aberration this wasn’t. Mike Trout might be the hottest hitter in baseball, but an Angels offense that hit .250 with a .747 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and averaged 4.7 runs per game in April and May is hitting .202 with a league-worst .590 OPS and 207 strikeouts and averaging 2.75 runs in 20 games in June.
“We hit some balls hard — sometimes they don’t fall,” Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said. “I thought we had some good at-bats throughout. I mean, were they consistent throughout? Probably not, but we did hit a lot of balls hard tonight.”
Trout hit five home runs to help the Angels win four of five games in Seattle, and when he smoked a single to left field in the first inning off Royals left-hander Kris Bubic, who entered with an 0-4 record and an 8.36 earned-run average, Nevin believed the Angels were headed for a good offensive night.
“When Trouty hits a bullet for a hit in his first at-bat, you’re sitting here going, ‘All right, our guy came today,’” Nevin said. “You think the boys are going to roll tonight.”
But the Angels managed only two runs and six hits in six innings off Bubic, who struck out seven and walked two to earn his first victory, and they were unable to put a dent in the Royals’ bullpen, which covered the final three innings.
Syndergaard, who fell to 4-6 this season, did what he could to keep the Angels in the game. He was tagged for two runs in his first four pitches. Whit Merrifield led off the game with a single and Andrew Benintendi drove a two-run homer to right field for a 2-0 lead before Syndergaard blanked Kansas City on two hits from the second through the fifth.
Taylor Ward pulled the Angels even with a solo homer in the third and an RBI single in the fifth, but Nicky Lopez’s two-out, RBI double in the seventh gave the Royals a 3-2 lead and Salvador Perez knocked Syndergaard out of the game with a booming two-run homer to center field in the eighth for a 5-2 lead. A solo homer by Hunter Dozier off Angels reliever Jaime Barría made it 6-2 in the eighth.
“Yeah, I felt like I was cruising for the most part, made it into the eighth,” said Syndergaard, who gave up five runs and eight hits, striking out five and walking two. “But when you look at the final line, it’s kind of whatever.”
Nevin believed there was a bigger-picture significance to Syndergaard’s effort, though. The team’s top three late-inning relievers — closer Raisel Iglesias and setup men Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup — had each pitched Saturday and Sunday and weren’t available Monday night.
“I’m not going to get into what was available (in the bullpen), what was not, but we didn’t have a lot,” Nevin said. “So for him to get into the eighth … it was gutsy. It was a veteran guy understanding what we did this weekend. For Noah to pitch that deep and protect those guys, protects his teammates, down on the ’pen tonight, was huge for us going forward in the rest of this series.”
Matt Duffy made his fifth start at third base in the seven games the Angels have played without Anthony Rendon, who underwent season-ending surgery Monday to repair a dislocated tendon in his right wrist.
Rendon, who has provided minimal return so far on the seven-year, $245-million investment the Angels made in him before 2020, also had his 2021 season cut short by a right hip injury in early July.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing news,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said before the game. “I feel really bad for him. He was really motivated to have a big season for us. It was something he tried to play through, which a lot of guys wouldn’t have, but it was too painful.”
Minasian is exploring a possible trade for a third baseman — “We’re always trying to improve, short term, long term,” he said — but the right-handed-hitting Duffy figures to get the bulk of the starts there for now, with the left-handed-hitting Tyler Wade filling in. David Fletcher would be a strong third base candidate when he returns from adductor surgery in July.
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