Angels Can’t Solve Messick, Drop 4-2 Decision To Guardians

The Los Angeles Angels lost the first game of their three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians, as the light-hitting Halos lineup was dominated by Parker Messick, who pitched six innings of three-hit ball while giving up just a single run. 

The Guardians don’t hit all that much, either, but they did just enough in the middle innings against Angels starter George Klassen to get the win. Cleveland scratched out a run in the third inning against Klassen on a sacrifice fly by Nathaniel Lowe, but the Angels got that run back in the fourth on an RBI single from Moises Ballasteros. 

That made in 1-1, but Cleveland took the lead and slowly pulled away, as old friend Jo Adell started the scoring with an RBI single in the fifth. The Guardians broke the game open in the sixth via a two-run homer from Austin Hedges, and the punchless Angels couldn’t do enough to come back make it a game. 

It’s become a typical formula for an Angels loss, as the Halos put together a tepid threat in the ninth to score a token run off Cleveland closer Cade Smith, who got his 34th save of the season. The Angels got just six hits with only one going for extra bases on a Josh Lowe double. 

Klassen had a decent start, but his command was an issue throughout, as he threw just 54 of 90 pitches for strikes, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. He walked three, and this was one of those starts where Klassen had to fight his way through an outing where he didn’t have his best stuff. 

“I had some things working, some things not working,” Klassen said. “Just used what I got and just gave it my all.”

It’s a better result than the ones Klassen got in scenarios like this early in the season, as the 24-year old would almost certainly have lost his composure and let things go off the rails. 

“I thought Klassen was good,” said manager Kurt Suzuki. “The command probably wasn't as good as it was in Houston, but I think the maturity is starting to show, where a start like that, maybe earlier in the year, he might have blown up. And for him to pitch into the sixth inning, giving us a chance to win, I thought was a good step in the right direction again.”

Klassen echoed those thoughts about his learning process, with his progress being the big takeaway from this game for the Angels. 

“The biggest thing is not let stuff spiral out of control,” Klassen said. “So when something happens, just try to put the foot down and end it there.”