ANAHEIM — Logan O’Hoppe added an impressive line to his growing resume on Tuesday night.
The Angels catcher blasted a pair of home runs against future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, but it wasn’t quite enough as the Angels lost to the Texas Rangers, 5-4.
After O’Hoppe’s second homer, in the fourth inning, tied the score, it remained tied until Rangers slugger Adolis García hit a solo homer against Angels right-hander Luis Garcia in the top of the eighth.
It was the eighth loss in the last nine games for the Angels (37-54), who equaled their season-worst at 17 games under .500.
This season has been over for a while, leaving the Angels to simply see what they have for the future.
And they clearly have their catcher.
O’Hoppe, who also singled in his third at-bat against Scherzer, now has 14 homers, equaling his total from last season. He’s batting .282 with an .825 OPS.
It was the second multi-homer game of his career, including one last September in Seattle.
O’Hoppe got a first-pitch hanging curveball that he hit out to left-center in the second inning. In the fourth, Scherzer threw him a first-pitch fastball down the middle and O’Hoppe hit it out to center.
The homer helped the Angels erase an early 4-1 deficit, but they never got the lead.
Starter Roansy Contreras had a second straight rough outing, allowing four runs in two innings. The Angels have given Contreras the ball three times as a starter, and he has yet to last more than three innings.
It seems he will continue in the rotation until the Angels are ready to bring up Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth, Kenny Rosenberg or Sam Bachman.
Contreras allowed a Josh Smith homer in the first inning, and in the third he couldn’t get a single out. He allowed three straight hits, driving in a run. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, he gave up an infield hit.
Contreras was spared a loss, though, because the Angels were able to do some damage against Scherzer.
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In between O’Hoppe’s homers in the second and fourth innings, the Angels scored two in the third on consecutive hits from Anthony Rendon, Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward.
Ward hit a routine single to right, but the ball skipped past right fielder Derek Hill. Ward, who hurt his knee on Sunday, tried to go all the way to third on the error, but he was thrown out.
After O’Hoppe’s homer tied it, his single int the seventh gave them a shot to take the lead. The Angels loaded the bases with two outs, but Nolan Schanuel grounded out to end the inning.
More to come on this story.