The Angels have pulled off some nice comebacks this year, but a four-run deficit against a good team, on the road, with no DH is too deep of a hole for even them to dig out of.
Run Expectancy Rundown
The two platoon guys, Kole Calhoun and Hank Conger, did their jobs, but outside of Mike Trout, none of the regulars did. Albert Pujols did drive in two runs, which should hopefully quell the uprising of fans asking Scioscia to move him out of the three-hole. Well, maybe for a day or two. Erick Aybar though was the one who had a chance to put the Angels ahead and failed to do so. Oh, and David Freese was this game’s token “why is he trying to steal a base?” guy.
The Braves only did damage in the first and Gattis and Johnson, the guys who hit the homers, were really the only Braves who made any real positive contribution to the Atlanta offense. The Upton family had a rough day.
Starting Pitcher Scores
C.J. Wilson was a mess in the first inning, but you have to give him credit for pulling it together to at least keep the Angels in the game. The Gattis homer was kind of understandable, but the Johnson dinger was really the backbreaker. On the other side, Aaron Harang apparently doesn’t totally suck anymore.
Bullpen Battle
This chart is very misleading because Shae Simmons did his darndest to blow this game for the Braves. The Angels could quite complete the comeback though which meant they had to try and finish it against Craig Kimbrel. That usually doesn’t work out very well. Mike Morin had another solid outing and is officially the most underutilized reliever with a 1.33 ERA in the league.
Game Flow
I like to call these kind of game charts life support charts. The patient effectively dies on the operating table right at the beginning, the doctors hit the defibrillators in the third when the Angels got their lone run off Harang, but they couldn’t sustain the pulse. They made last heroic life-saving measure in the eighth, but it didn’t work either and the doctors had to call it.
Halo A-Hole
This Angel team is capable of a good comeback, but let’s not test it by putting them in a four-run hole in the first inning next time, deal?
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