BOSTON — Ron Washington said on Sunday morning that the Angels offense has been missing “that one big hit at the right time.”
They’re still waiting.
The Angels lost, 5-4, to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, despite having numerous opportunities at the type of big inning they need.
The Angels put their leadoff man on six times, but they never produced a multi-run inning.
Down by two in the ninth inning against closer Kenley Jansen, the Angels loaded the bases with no outs. Anthony Rendon drove in one run with a sacrifice fly. Luis Rengifo and Mike Trout then struck out, leaving the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second. Red Sox manager Alex Cora opted to pitch to Trout, even with first base open.
Twice the Angels hit into double plays, including Brandon Drury on the first pitch he saw when the Angels had runners on the corners and one out in the sixth.
At that moment, the Angels trailed by a run. The deficit grew to three runs quickly, when left-hander José Suarez issued a leadoff walk and then gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth.
The Angels (7-8) lost their third straight series, and four of the past five games. While they put together an impressive full-team effort to win on Friday, they couldn’t do enough to win the series.
This time they sent left-hander Tyler Anderson to the mound with a 14-inning scoreless streak to begin the season.
That streak ended emphatically when he threw Tyler O’Neill a first-inning fastball over the middle of the plate. O’Neill drilled it over the Green Monster.
A few pitches later, Anderson left another pitch over the middle to Triston Casas, who also homered.
From there he settled down, tacking on three more scoreless innings. The Red Sox got his pitch count up, though, so he didn’t make it through the fifth. He was pulled after allowing a third run on his 93rd pitch.
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The Angels couldn’t take him off the hook for the loss because the only runs they managed were a Drury homer in the second — his first of the season — and a run on a Rengifo groundout in the third.
After Rengifo’s grounder tied the game, Trout drew a walk, putting two on with one out. Taylor Ward, who leads the team in RBIs, struck out, as did Aaron Hicks.
Rengifo came up with two on and two outs in the seventh, but he grounded out, leaving Trout in the on-deck circle.
Trout then tripled to lead off the eighth, scoring on a grounder to cut the deficit to two runs.
This story will be updated.