The Los Angeles Angels once again threw a young pitcher to the wolves as Ryan Johnson struggled in his MLB debut.
The bloom is definitely off the rose for the Los Angeles Angels, who started off 2-0 for the first time since 2007, but now they’re back to doing normal Angels things. The latest example of this came in last night’s 7-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley, as starter Ryan Johnson blew up early and left the Angels down 6-0 after just 3-1/3 innings of work.
It was fairly obvious early on that this wasn’t going to be a good night for Johnson. His mechanics were all over the map, and the result was an 80-pitch outing that included just 48 strikes as the Cubs combined seven hits and four walks to produce a quiet route.
Johnson earned what will probably be a temporary spot in the rotation based on some good numbers in the Cactus League as he struck out 23 hitters in 20-2/3 innings to go with five walks, which led manager Kurt Suzuki to give Johnson a shot based on his biggest strength.
“His aggressiveness,” Suzuki said when asked why he chose Johnson before the game started in a report written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “He’s going to attack the zone, he’s going to throw strikes, I guess so to say. It’s just execution of pitches.”
Johnson didn’t do that at all against the Cubs, and the Angels’ No. 2 prospect looked like he had no business being anywhere near a big-league rotation. It took eight pitches for him to throw a strike, and he walked three of the first four hitters he faced.
“Definitely had some nerves and was just too timid,” Johnson said after the game. “Wasn’t aggressive, just needed to go out there and attack and was too much on my heels.”
It’s fine to be aggressive, but it also involves throwing early strikes to get ahead in the count. Angels relievers have now had to cover 19-2/3 innings in just five games, which is the third highest number in MLB.
It felt like just a matter of time before the Cubs broke through, and they put up crooked numbers in both the first and third innings, posting a three-spot in both frames. The highlights included a wind-blown RBI single to center from catcher Carson Kelly that twisted second baseman Oswald Peraza into a pretzel, followed by a home run by left fielder Ian Happ that keyed another three-run rally.
At this point it looks like the Halos have half a rotation, maybe somewhat more given the initial promise Reid Detmers showed in his first start. After that it’s man the lifeboats and get the bullpen ready, despite the abundance of pitching moves the Angels made in the offseason.