For the second night in a row the Angels went into the ninth inning trailing the Mariners, only to tag the formerly dominant Steve Cishek with a blown save. The Angels have scored 16 runs in the first two games of this series, and after scoring 10 runs in their Thursday night loss against St. Louis, there are signs the offense is FINALLY coming to life. The offense probably isn’t good enough to carry the leaky starting pitching and make some noise in the standings this summer, but it will be far less depressing watching games if they can at least mash a little.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1qNKLclPJPVQa7y-V1JAAOrpLrHfCaaQB8YEJZZkU3n0/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”429″ /]Kole Calhoun took the RE24 title on the day, but Albert Pujols was the real hero in his first game batting in the three-hole this season. His three-run dinger in the ninth inning stole victory from the jaws of defeat for the second straight night against the M’s. It’s a very tiny sample size, but Pujols has a .333 OBP in May. Not great, but that would be his best season-long effort since 2012. He probably won’t post an OBP that high for the entire season, but the recent trend is still a welcome sight. Maybe batting third will do…something?
Mike Trout chipped in with what seemed like an insurance run homer in the seventh inning, but a costly double play moves him to the negative.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1qNKLclPJPVQa7y-V1JAAOrpLrHfCaaQB8YEJZZkU3n0/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Adam Lind‘s game-tying, two-out double in the eighth inning temporarily saved the game for Seattle. The typical Mariners you would expect to have good games did.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1qNKLclPJPVQa7y-V1JAAOrpLrHfCaaQB8YEJZZkU3n0/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Jhoulys Chacin acquitted himself nicely in his Angel debut, working seven efficient innings—he threw only 90 pitches—and allowing five hits, two runs, and no walks while striking out four. It’s my hope Chacin pitches well enough for the next two months that the Angels can flip him to a contender at the deadline and net a decent prospect in return. Saturday was a good start to that dream. Now if only I could spell his first name off top of my head before that potential trade happens.
Hisashi Iwakuma wasn’t missing many bats, but in typical Iwakuma fashion he was cruising along against the Angels. Then the seventh inning happened, when the Angels tagged him for three hits and he was debited for three runs.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1qNKLclPJPVQa7y-V1JAAOrpLrHfCaaQB8YEJZZkU3n0/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Avert your eyes! A low-scoring affair for most of the night turned into a slugfest once the bullpens got involved. Fernando Salas was given the blown save, as he picked a bad time to allow his first run since April 15 (in Minnesota). Mike Morin would have been the goat if not for the Angels’ rally the next inning—he allowed four baserunners, four runs, and only recorded one out.
Prior to this series, Cishek had allowed two runs in 19⅓ innings. Hell, he had only allowed 10 HITS all season. And in the span of two games against the Angels he’s allowed five runs and five hits. Again, that’s against an offense where Daniel Nava bats fifth.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1qNKLclPJPVQa7y-V1JAAOrpLrHfCaaQB8YEJZZkU3n0/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]Wheeeeeeee!
Halo Hero
It’s always fun when The Machine makes a brief cameo nowadays. Pujols now trails Rafael Palmeiro by one home run for 12th all time.
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