ANAHEIM — Patrick Sandoval’s streak of encouraging outings came to an abrupt halt on Friday night.
The Angels left-hander gave up eight runs – equaling his career high – in a 10-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
Sandoval was knocked out after 3⅔ innings. He gave up three homers, including two to José Ramirez, and he issued four walks. He also hit a batter and threw a wild pitch.
Over his previous five outings, Sandoval had a 3.03 ERA and he had walked just six in 29⅔ innings. In two of the games he didn’t walk anyone.
When Friday’s game began, it looked like the improved version of Sandoval was on the mound again. He pitched a perfect first inning, getting a first-pitch strike on all three hitters.
Sandoval began the second with a five-pitch strikeout of cleanup hitter Josh Naylor.
At that point, his control abandoned him.
Sandoval walked the next two hitters, then he gave up an RBI single. After another strikeout, he threw a wild pitch.
Sandoval escaped that inning with the Angels down 2-1, but in the third he showed no signs of improvement. He hit the first batter he faced and then gave up a two-run homer to Ramirez.
Left-hander José Suarez began warming up during the third. And in the bottom of the inning, the Angels scored a run to get within 4-2.
Manager Ron Washington, however, sent Sandoval back to the mound for the fourth. He gave up four more runs, including two more homers, before finally ending his night.
Sandoval continued his trend of throwing very few fastballs, relying on his slider and changeup. He gave up two of the homers on sliders.
After Sandoval was done, Suarez was able to soak up the next 10 outs, allowing just two more runs, which preserved most of the Angels’ bullpen for the rest of the weekend.
Roansy Contreras worked the final two innings, making his Angels debut a week after he was acquired.
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While it was a bad night for Sandoval, it was a pretty good night at the plate for Luis Rengifo.
Rengifo blasted a homer in the first inning, his fourth of the season. He then singled in the third and doubled in the fifth, although he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.
Rengifo is hitting .322 with an .878 OPS this season. All of his plate appearances on Friday were against left-handers, lifting his average to .483 in 29 at-bats against lefties this season.
Jo Adell also blasted a homer, giving him 10 homers in a season for the first time in his career. Logan O’Hoppe also hit his fifth homer of the season.
More to come on this story.