CHICAGO —The Angels went from one extreme to the other in the past two weeks.
After winning six of seven games on an encouraging homestand, they lost five of six on a miserable road trip, concluding with a 5-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon. It was the third time on the trip that the Angels were shut out.
“We left home and seemed like we forgot what we were doing,” manager Ron Washington said. “Yesterday, we played a pretty good ball game and I thought we had woken up but it didn’t happen.”
The Angels had just three hits, none between a first-inning single and a pair of singles in the ninth.
Taylor Ward, who had an infield single in the ninth, had to come out of the game with a sore right knee. Ward was hurt when he slid into the left field wall chasing a foul ball in the seventh inning. He was OK to stay in the game for the next two innings, but after he reached first he said he didn’t feel like he could score on a ball in the gap, so he left the game.
“I feel alright,” Ward said. “Definitely sore… Not too concerned (about the injured list). We just have to take it day by day. See where I’m at tomorrow.”
Ward has been one of the Angels’ best run producers. They already lost another of their best hitters when Luis Rengifo suffered a wrist injury earlier on the trip.
The Angels can’t afford any more losses to an offense that is currently in a rut.
The Angels had scored at least five runs in eight straight games, but over the five games they scored one run in the four losses, with a seven-run outburst on Saturday as the exception.
“We’re dealing with young kids out there,” Washington said. “They just have to figure out how to come every day and be on top of their game. And they just haven’t figured that out yet. All we can do is stay in the process and keep working till it comes to fruition.”
Cubs starter Hayden Wesneski zipped through the Angels in just 69 pitches through the first six innings, allowing only a Brandon Drury first-inning single.
In the seventh, the Angels threatened after Ward reached on an error and Willie Calhoun walked. But Logan O’Hoppe tapped a bouncer back to the mound and then Zach Neto hit a flyout.
The Angels didn’t get another hit until Ward’s infield single with two outs in the ninth. Kevin Pillar’s infield single and an O’Hoppe walk loaded the bases for Neto, who struck out to end the game.
The poor offense meant the Angels had to be perfect on the mound and in the field, and they weren’t.
Right-hander José Soriano gave up three runs in five innings in his second start after being out with an abdominal infection.
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Soriano should have allowed only one run in the third inning, but Neto misplayed a grounder. Neto fielded the ball behind second, and at first looked to get the force there, but Drury had started too far in the hole to get there. By the time Neto realized he had no play at second, he had no play at first.
“When the ball takes you that far away from the bag, you don’t try to run back to it, you just go for the out,” Washington said. “That’s a decision.”
Soriano gave up another run in the fifth, but he avoided further damage with a double play.
“He was good for the first two and then he looked like he he was stressed,” Washington said of Soriano. “Three four, and five were stressful innings, then all of a sudden he really started trying to overthrow the baseball where he was smooth and under control in the first two. He still may have some remnants of the time out.”
Left-hander Matt Moore gave up a two-run homer to Michael Busch in the seventh inning, increasing the deficit to 5-0 and putting a dent in the Angels chances of getting out of town with a victory.
“We started playing pretty good at home so maybe we need to go home and get back on track,” Washington said. “It would be outstanding if we finished his first half with a great homestand.”