Putting the ball in play more often is a good thing… until it isn’t. The Angels have been better than everyone this season at avoiding third strikes—putting the ball in play in an absurd 84.3 percent of their at-bats—but that high-contact approach has come at a cost. The odds of a strikeout turning into a double play are infinitesimal, but put the ball in play and anything’s possible.
So it went for the Angels on Tuesday, as the club hit into three double plays to raise its league-worst total to 32* in just 27 games. Albert Pujols, Yunel Escobar, and Andrelton Simmons were the rally-killing culprits yet again, giving the three a combined 19 GIDP on the year—that’s as many or more than 10 entire MLB teams. Employing the high-contact approach on a team level is a good one in theory, but it breaks down when its three biggest champions put 50+ percent of their balls in play on the ground and have little to no speed. If this keeps up, the Angels will easily break the all-time record for double plays hit into.
*Simmons’ line-out double play in the fourth isn’t tallied on the official GIDP stats for some reason, which say the Halos have 31.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1tB8RURAQEomGJrpYpIZaU8VbYAitnNuwwwR1PHCI55c/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]Make that five straight games with at least nine hits for the Angels offense. Too bad all the double plays undid most of it. Rafael Ortega had a multi-hit game yet again, his fourth in his last eight games. Yunel Escobar and Albert Pujols also had multi-hit efforts, but, again, the double plays. Mike Trout expanded the Halos’ lead to 4-0 with a two-run single in the third, giving him seven RBI in the last three games. Ji-Man Choi somehow managed to be the Angels’ last hope for the second straight night. He again failed. Daniel Nava can’t return soon enough.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1tB8RURAQEomGJrpYpIZaU8VbYAitnNuwwwR1PHCI55c/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Chris Carter and Jonathan Lucroy were all the offense the Brewers needed on Tuesday. Their three homers accounted for all five of Milwaukee’s runs, with their back-to-back dingers in the fifth delivering the decisive blow.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1tB8RURAQEomGJrpYpIZaU8VbYAitnNuwwwR1PHCI55c/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Nick Tropeano threw a trio of meatballs to the only two players in the Brewers lineup who could make him pay for his mistakes. And boy did they ever. Heading into that fateful fifth inning it looked like Tropeano was on his way to another five-plus innings of near-quality startdom. But then he hung a couple of breaking balls and it was all over.
Junior Guerra was far more effective than he had any right to be as a 31-year-old making his first MLB start. The Angels probably would have driven him out of the game in the third but for Albert grounding into a double play on a 3-0 count. Instead, he got through innings 4-6 on just 26 pitches.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1tB8RURAQEomGJrpYpIZaU8VbYAitnNuwwwR1PHCI55c/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Mike Morin, Cory Rasmus, and Jose Alvarez held the deficit at one for the final three innings, each striking out one. The overworking of the bullpen is going to bite the Angels eventually, but thankfully it hasn’t yet. Michael Blazek loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, but somehow escaped with the lead intact. It was clear sailing for the Brewers ‘pen from there.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1tB8RURAQEomGJrpYpIZaU8VbYAitnNuwwwR1PHCI55c/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /]The Angels had a better than 85% chance to win in the third inning. Another one that got away.
Angel Antagonist
Tropeano didn’t have a good day, but… really, Albert? A double play on a 3-0 count? Unforgivable.
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