Even after mounting a sixth-inning rally, the Angels fell 8-3 to the San Francisco Giants for their seventh consecutive loss Monday night. This marks their longest slump of the season.
“It’s tough when you lose, got a roomful of guys who want to win in the worst way, fighting and to come up short this many times in a row in the position we’re in. It hurts,” said manager Phil Nevin after the game.
Patrick Sandoval gave up an RBI single to Patrick Bailey in the fourth inning. Sandoval (6-9) pitched five scoreless innings, giving up two runs and five hits while walking one and striking out eight. But the Giants closing offense sealed their win.
The Angels took a 2-1 lead in the sixth. Shohei Ohtani led off the inning with a double on a ground ball to right field. Two outs later, he scored on a single from C.J Cron, who then made it home on a single from Mickey Moniak.
J.D. Davis hit a leadoff home run off Sandoval in the seventh inning to tie the score. When Randal Grichuk responded with a one-out triple and Luis Rengifo — who went two for four alongside Ohtani — landed a one-run single to pull ahead 3-2, the Angels seemed confident in their chance to win.
Mickey Moniak, who reached above the fence to rob Joc Pederson of a home run to maintain the Angels’ lead in the eighth, said it was exciting to keep the game in contention.
“It felt good to be able to contribute right there,” he said.
The Angels then brought Carlos Estévez to the mound, slated to earn his 24th save. But the Giants scored six runs, four off Estévez — a two-run double from Bailey and a two-run single from Mark Mathias — and two off Aaron Loup.
Estévez had 23 consecutive saves before blowing his first save of the season last Thursday. Manager Phil Nevin said that did not contribute to his performance Monday, comparing him to Hall of Famer, and Nevin’s former teammate, Trevor Hoffman: “I watched him blow a couple saves in a row, as great as he was, a Hall of Famer, with the next day he showed up like nothing happened the day before.
“And Carlos has that trait. That’s what great closers have,” Nevin said, adding that Estévez is likely fatigued after being relied on so heavily this season.
“I feel for him, he’s hurting right now like we all are. He’s been our dude, been our dude all year. We wouldn’t be here having these conversations if Carlos Estévez wasn’t at the back end.”
Estévez said he felt good coming into the game and he thinks he just has to be better overall.
“Today they hit some pretty good pitches so I don’t know…,” he said, then adding that maybe he could locate his pitches better.
The Angels (56-68) are eight games behind Toronto for the last American League West wild-card spot and 11½ games behind first-place Texas Rangers.
They are keeping their focus on the next game, according to Nevin: “I know what they’re gonna do tomorrow. We got a chance to win again tomorrow, win a series. And that’s the way we look at it.”
“It’s a tough patch,” Estévez said. “We’re gonna get through it. We’ve got to stay sane and keep attacking teams that come in here and wherever we go. We gotta keep that up.”
Added Moniak: “I think in this game the best thing to do is to try to stay as even-keeled as possible, never get too high, never get too low. And I think that’s what we’re trying to look to do right now is just try to stay even-keeled.
“Wake up tomorrow with the mindset of getting our work in and making sure we’re ready to go by game time.”
