SAN FRANCISCO — So much for the breakthrough Ryan Johnson made last weekend.
Johnson struck out Detroit All-Star catcher Dillon Dingler with the bases loaded in his last start, which was precisely the type of big out he’d been unable to find at other times in this rocky season.
On Saturday, Johnson had nothing to stop the bleeding. He gave up five two-out runs in the third inning and the Angels lost 9-2 to the San Francisco Giants.
Johnson was charged with eight runs in 3⅓ innings, including two that scored when reliever Brent Suter gave up a three-run homer.
This season, Johnson has allowed 34 earned runs and 41% of them have scored in three of his 41⅔ innings. That includes two five-run innings and a four-run inning.
“I think it’s more just getting more comfortable being in those spots and figuring out how to navigate through those times,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Whether it’s giving up one or two, but the big ones, the crooked ones, those kind of hurt you. I think that’s a young pitcher learning his way, learning how to navigate through tough times. The more experience you get, the better off you’ll be.”
In the first two innings Saturday, Johnson looked like he was picking up right where he left off from his encouraging five-inning performance last weekend against the Tigers. Johnson retired six of the eight hitters he’d faced, with two strikeouts. He’d thrown just 32 pitches.
With one out in the third, though, the Giants hitters got their second look at Johnson.
Luis Arraez practically picked a ball out of the dirt and yanked it into right for a single. Heliot Ramos then hit one off his fists the other way for another single.
Johnson struck out Bryce Eldridge, the Giants’ dangerous No. 3 hitter, to get within an out of escaping.
But Rafael Devers and Casey Schmidt both went the other way for singles, producing the first two runs of the game.
Johnson then threw a first-pitch sweeper to Jung Hoo Lee, and he spun and lofted it just over the short porch in right field for a three-run homer.
“It’s just a couple of pitches that are left over in the middle that were doing it to me,” Johnson said. “If I minimize that and don’t give up the home run there, that helps out.”
Johnson retired only one of the four batters he faced in the fourth inning, ending his day.
The 23-year-old now has a 7.34 ERA this season, including a 5.40 ERA in the seven turns since he became a regular part of the starting rotation.
“Obviously everybody kind of remembers the bad ones,” Suzuki said, “but you’ve got to take some positives away from it and the stuff that he has done better. He’s executed some breaking balls for strikes. He’s attacking the zone. Take the good with the bad and learn from it.”
After Johnson’s rough outing, the only drama left for the Angels came when Zach Neto was hit in the hand by a pitch in the seventh inning. Neto was fine, though.
He did come out of the game – along with Mike Trout and Jo Adell – because it was 9-1.
Catcher Tyler Heineman pitched a perfect eighth.