Ryan Johnson struggles again as Angels lose to Brewers

ANAHEIM — Ryan Johnson has had some moments as a starting pitcher.

Not enough of them, though.

The right-hander was charged with five runs in the Angels’ 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, the latest rough outing in his trial as a major league starter.

Johnson now has a 7.63 ERA in 46 innings and has allowed 12 home runs. The Brewers hit him hard, with line drives all over the field. Enough of the balls found Angels gloves for the first four innings for the Brewers to score just one run. In the fifth, though, his luck ran out.

Johnson issued a walk and then gave up a two-run homer to Brice Turang. After a single and another walk, he was pulled. Both of the runners he left came around to score when right-hander José Fermin gave up a three-run homer to Jake Bauers.

“I felt like I was kind of battling and kind of just fell into a little bit of fatigue, tiredness and kind of got out of my rhythm and sync and especially in that last inning,” Johnson said. “It kind of just fell apart with the walks and just losing feel for really the whole zone. Felt like even out of the gates I was struggling to find it and get into a rhythm with kind of walking the first guy and then kind of was able to get out of it, but I was fighting the whole night.”

In his last start, Johnson was good for two innings, and then he gave up eight runs in the next two. In the previous outing, he gave up three in one inning and nothing in the other four.

The pattern suggests that his best role might be as a reliever. His velocity might also be better pitching out of the bullpen. His fastball averaged 91 mph on Monday.

When asked directly if Johnson might be better in the bullpen, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki acknowledged the pattern.

“I know what you’re talking about,” Suzuki said. “Right now we feel like his his best option, our best option, is him as a starter.”

If the Angels look to make a change in the rotation, right-hander George Klassen would be an easy swap. He also pitched on Friday night, at Triple-A Salt Lake, and he gave up one run in six innings, with no walks and six strikeouts. Of course, the Angels could have one or two other vacancies in the rotation if they trade Reid Detmers and/or José Soriano before Monday’s deadline.

Johnson’s performance helped drop the Angels (42-68) to their seventh loss in the last eight games, but he wasn’t alone.

The Angels didn’t even get a hit the first time through the order against Brewers left-hander Shane Drohan. They finally scored in the fifth, on a Denzer Guzman two-run homer.

Left fielder José Siri had a particularly tough night. He was charged with an error after he misplayed a single in the second inning, and then he didn’t show much urgency getting to the ball after it got past him. He broke the wrong way on a line drive that ended up going over his head. He also collided with center fielder Mike Trout, who was calling him off, when a fly ball was hit between them, but Trout still made the catch.

Siri also seemed to lose track of the situation when he was at first base on a full count with two outs, and he didn’t break for second on the pitch.

Suzuki said the latter situation was addressed by first base coach Adam Eaton with Siri, who acknowledged the mistake.

“It’s frustration, obviously,” Suzuki said. “There’s a lot of good intentions in there with him, and sometimes frustration gets you. Like I said, it’s an imperfect game, and you get frustrated. You got to do your best to let things go quickly and move on. And sometimes it’s tough. We talked to him. We handled it. He knows. We’ll move forward and get ready for tomorrow.”