The Los Angeles Angels featured the non-scoring version of their offense, and the results were predictable.
The Los Angeles Angels offense has become legendary for not scoring lately, and the Minnesota Twins took advantage with a 3-0 shutout that featured the Halos getting just four hits while striking out ten times.
Starter Grayson Rodriguez continues to make his case as the most confusing starter on the Angels staff. He tends to either be very good or very bad, and things looked grim in the first inning when Minnesota picked up a pair of runs to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
It was a small-ball sort of rally, as Rodriguez opened the game by hitting Luke Keaschall with a pitch. Brooks Lee singled to put runners at the corners. Kody Clemens grounded into a fielder’s choice that erased Keaschall when he tried to score, but the rundown that followed left runners at second and third.
Ryan Jeffers got the Twins on the board with a sacrifice fly, and a Josh Bell single drove in the second run of the inning.
But Rodriguez settled things down after that, and not much happened for the Angels offensively. Walker Jenkins added a solo homer in the seventh for Minnesota to make it 3-0, and the Twins wound up tying the series at 1-1.
Rodriguez’s line wound up being impressive as he went 6-2/3 innings, although he did give up eight hits to go with four strikeouts. His record is now 4-8 with an ERA of 5.96, and he remains a head-scratcher who’s nearly impossible to figure out.
The Twins pitchers took advantage of the Angels’ borderline Triple-A lineup, with starter Connor Prielipp pitching seven shutout innings as he gave up just two hits to go with two walks and eight strikeouts while lowering his ERA to an unimpressive 4.94.
Tommy Nance survived a 23-pitch, two-hit eighth to get a hold, and Travis Adams pitched a scoreless ninth to get his fifth save of the season. The lone bright spot offensively was Jose Siri, who had a two-hit night, and Wade Meckler and Christian Moore also singled. Mike Trout was the whiff king as he struck out twice, but Trout had plenty of company in that category.
The Halos now have 95 losses for the season with eight game to play, and they’re 2.5 games ahead (behind?) the Colorado Rockies in the “race" for the worst record in baseball. They’re also two games behind the Athletics in the AL West, so in theory they have a shot at escaping from the basement.
