The Halos’ early-season optimism has vanished as they fall to a league-worst winning percentage, buried in the AL West cellar after a punchless afternoon in Cleveland.
The Los Angeles Angels have suffered their third sweep of the year after losing the final three games to the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday afternoon, with a final score of 2-4. All three instances of the Halos being swept this year have come within the club’s last six series, highlighting the brutal slump they're in.
A slump probably isn’t the correct word for it, as the Angels are likely just performing at their anticipated level. The beginning of the season brought some excitement and hope, but as things always do in Anaheim, reality has quickly set back in.
Now at a 16-28 record, the Angels have sole possession of last place in the American League West as the Houston Astros head into Wednesday night’s game with a 16-27 record. For now, the Angels have the worst winning percentage in all of baseball.
With all that said, let’s dive into how the Angels failed to avoid being on the wrong side of another sweep this afternoon.
Left-hander Reid Detmers took the mound in Cleveland for the Halos, heading into the matchup with a respectable 4.28 ERA on the year. It was a difficult one from the jump for Detmers in this one, however, giving up a home run to the first batter he faced, outfielder Angel Martinez.
Guardians star Jose Ramirez scored later in the inning after drawing a walk, and suddenly the Angels were already down by two after just one inning. In the third inning, Martinez crossed home plate again after reaching on an error before stealing both second and third, and scoring on a sacrifice fly.
The Angels finally got on board in the fifth inning after having just one hit up to that point. With Zach Neto’s two-run shot that landed above the big left field wall at Progressive Field, it was now a one-run ball game. The Angels almost got one more to score before the inning’s end, but Yoan Moncada was left stranded on third base after a Vaughn Grissom strikeout to end the frame.
The bottom of the sixth came around, and the Guardians responded by adding an insurance run to their lead after Rhys Hoskins scored on a single from Daniel Schneeman. With his third allowed run of the game, Detmers was pulled, and reliever Sam Bachman took over on the mound for the Halos.
Bachman finished the sixth and took care of business in the seventh before Ryan Zeferjhan was handed the ball for the eighth inning. During that time, the Halos failed to produce anything meaningful at the plate despite Grissom being in scoring position at the top of the eighth.
Guardians’ closer Erik Sabrowski finished the game out for Cleveland, finalizing the series sweep. Starting pitcher Parker Messick earned his fifth win of the season for Cleveland, while Detmers was given his fourth loss of the year.
The Angels managed just four hits in the game while striking out 13 times. As a team, they went 0-4 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base.
Now, Los Angeles looks forward to a three-series homestand, first matching up against the Los Angeles Dodgers. First pitch is set for Friday at 6:38 p.m. in Anaheim.