ANAHEIM — If anyone missed the first 156 games of the Angels’ season, they only needed to watch Tuesday night’s to get a good idea of what has gone wrong.
The Angels’ 8-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals provided a tidy summation of the problems, at the plate and on the mound.
The Angels, who came into the game tied for the worst batting average in the majors, had only five hits.
They also have the most strikeouts in the majors, and they whiffed another 13 times.
The one thing they do well is hit home runs. Sure enough, three of their runs came on two swings of the bat. Bryce Teodosio hit the first homer of his career, a two-run shot, and Taylor Ward hit a solo homer (No. 35) in the ninth.
“You’ve got to do something to shorten up the swings,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “You don’t want to change the approach entirely necessarily, because you can’t get away from your swing, but in the same breath, obviously you gotta make more contact.”
On the mound, their starting pitching has been among the worst in the majors, and in this game left-hander Sam Aldegheri gave up three runs and didn’t get out of the fifth inning.
The Royals simply kept putting the ball in play, and they sprayed 15 hits all over the field to put away the Angels.
The Angels (70-87) have now lost 10 of their last 11 games. There are only five games left before this disappointing season mercifully comes to an end.
That’s probably not enough games for the Angels to get the major league record for strikeouts, although they will probably finish in the top five. The Angels lead the majors with 1,584 strikeouts. They need 70 in the final five games to match the 2023 Minnesota Twins at 1,654.
Royals left-hander Cole Ragans, who came into the game with an exceptional 36% strikeout rate, whiffed 10 Angels hitters in five innings.
Through the first four innings, the Angels had just one single and one walk.
In the fifth, Christian Moore singled and Teodosio homered, pulling the Angels within 3-2.
They weren’t able to tie the score and take Aldegheri off the hook for a loss.
Aldegheri was one of the better starters in the Angels’ farm system in the second half of the season, which he said was because he focused on pounding the strike zone and getting quick outs.
In the first inning, he gave up two runs on three hits and a walk, throwing 34 pitches.
After that, he strung together three straight scoreless innings, before allowing another run in the fifth, ending his night.
Aldegheri said he was better after he made an adjustment to “slow down.”
“I know here is where I belong,” Aldegheri said. “I know I have good stuff. Just tonight was out of control. Couldn’t throw a lot of fastballs for a strike, and that changed everything.”
Originally Published:
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