Giving away both free and extra outs is never a good thing, but it’s a cardinal sin when Chris Sale is on the mound. The Angels ran into two crucial outs and threw away another Wednesday afternoon, giving Sale all the leeway he needed to earn his fourth win of the young season.
The worst part was that three game-changing gaffes came from the Angels’ two best performers of the day: Mike Trout had three hits but got thrown out on the bases twice; Garrett Richards threw 6⅓ strong innings but undid his own work with a bad throw to first base. Sometimes them’s the breaks.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1q-5HbG0RfeMiz0e_XNde-pLx-KqWBtlhUpjTVYC8Bg4/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]Mike Trout was the only Angel to do anything against Chris Sale, notching two singles in three chances. He added a third single in the ninth, but got erased trying to get to second after an errant throw. That and an earlier caught stealing are why he ended up in the negative. Rafael Ortega was the only Halo to come through in the clutch, slapping a pinch-hit, RBI single up the middle in the eighth to make it a one-run game. The rest of the lineup was quiet for the second straight night.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1q-5HbG0RfeMiz0e_XNde-pLx-KqWBtlhUpjTVYC8Bg4/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Tyler Saladino got the scoring started early with a solo home run, but it was Austin Jackson‘s sac bunt attempt in the fifth that ended up being the surprise difference-maker. Brett Lawrie worked three walks on the evening, but never got beyond second base.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1q-5HbG0RfeMiz0e_XNde-pLx-KqWBtlhUpjTVYC8Bg4/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Garrett Richards pitched well enough to win for the fourth time in four starts, but instead went home with his third loss. He’s still struggling with his control a bit, but he did a much better job of limiting hard contact on Wednesday. He’s now down to an even 3.00 ERA.
Chris Sale is awesome. I don’t know how anyone ever gets a hit against him. Most don’t, as his 5.1 H/9 rate indicates. How he hasn’t won a Cy Young yet is a mystery to me.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1q-5HbG0RfeMiz0e_XNde-pLx-KqWBtlhUpjTVYC8Bg4/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Greg Mahle and Mike Morin have proven a nice little tandem in this series. They’ve now thrown a combined 3⅔ scoreless in the series. David Robertson finally made an appearance for Chicago, shutting down the Halos for the final inning and a third.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1q-5HbG0RfeMiz0e_XNde-pLx-KqWBtlhUpjTVYC8Bg4/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /]There was a faint glimmer of hope in the eighth, but it wasn’t to be.
Angel Antagonist
Sorry, Mike. Can’t go TOOTBLAN-ing in the ninth when you represent the tying run.
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