Angels Offense Does Next To Nothing In 1-0 Loss To Pirates

The Los Angeles Angels waved the surrender flag offensively again as they opened their road trip against the Pittsburgh Pirates, taking a brutal 1-0 loss that penalized starter Ryan Johnson for giving the Halos six strong innings and daring to give up a single run. 

It’s a familiar story for the Angels, who have now lost 10 of their last 11, and they’re so inept offensively that it’s fair to start wondering if there are some unfathomable records out there waiting to be broken. 

The lone run happened on a minimal rally in the second, as Oneil Cruz walked, but Cruz was thrown out on. a fielder’s choise by Konnor Griffin. Jake Mangum then doubled Griffin home, and that was basically it for the Angels. 

Johnson’s final line was six innings and just the one run, with four hits and a walk allowed to go with six strikeouts. He continues to cement his spot in next year’s rotation, when he’ll presumably  have a lineup that can actually get home some runs. 

The relievers who held the line when he left were Jose Fermin and Samy Natera Jr., each of whom pitched a scoreless inning. Fermin is iffy for next year’s pen, but it was nice to see Natera bounce back after having a tough outing the last time around. 

Pirates starter Jared Jones also went six innings, and he gave up three hits and a walk to go with nine strikeouts, as the Angesl managed to whiff a dozen times. Wilber Dotel picked up Jones with two scoreless innings, and Mason Montromery got his ninth save of the season. 

The Angels wound up with a total of just four hits for the night, with Wade Meckler, Mike Trout, Vaughn Griissom and Moises Ballasteros all getting singles. Zach Neto took a four at-bat collar, and every one esle did what they usually do, which is strike out a lot and make outs. 

The win got the Pirates back to within two games of .500 at 70-72, and with two more games against the Angels this weekend they’ve got a solid shot at pulling even. It also left them 4.5 games back in the race for the third NL wild card slot, although they’re still a big longshot given the lack of games and the number of teams ahead of them in the standings. 

The series resumes tomorrow night with Yusei Kikuchi going against Braxton Ashcraft.