WASHINGTON D.C. – The Los Angeles Angels have gotten familiar with the feeling of letting leads slip away, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.
That was the case on Sunday against the Washington Nationals.
Grayson Rodriguez was on the mound for the Angels looking to bounce back from a rough stretch in his previous starts and to his credit, Rodriguez did show a marked improvement from his previous struggles and turned in a strong performance with 5.1 innings pitched while allowing two earned runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four.
But while Rodriguez was holding his own, the Angels offense wasn’t giving him much to work with. They took an early 2-0 lead courtesy of solo home runs from Moises Ballesteros and Zach Neto, but the Nationals tied things up just as quickly with a two-run rally in the bottom of the sixth.
The Angeles got the lead back just as quickly in the top of the eighth after Vaughn Grissom reached on an error and Zach Neto scored on a wild pitch, followed by a sacrifice fly from Ballesteros to put the Angels back ahead 4-2 with just six outs between them and victory, but that’s when things went awry.
Luke Murphy was on the mound for the Angels to start the bottom of the eighth inning, but allowed a lead off single and a triple from Daylen Lile to drive in another run, followed by a pinch-hit single from Jorbit Vivas to tie the game back up 4-4 with just one out.
But the Nationals weren’t done. Jacob Young doubled in another run to put the Nationals back ahead 5-4, finally ending Murphy’s day as Sammy Peralta came in for relief.
Peralta didn’t fare much better. While he struck out the first batter he faced, Dylan Crews singled in another run to put the Nationals ahead 6-4 before Peralta ended the inning with a strike out.
A lead-off double from Josh Lowe an a ground out from Christian Moore did drive in another run to make it 6-5, but that was all the Angels were able to do before ultimately dropping the game 6-5 for their third-straight loss.
While the Angels’ bullpen has shined at times over the course of the season, they’ve continued to show that among the several issues within the roster, maintaining leads with relief pitching is one of the most difficult, and their recent stretch of losses only proves that further.
Now the Angels head back to the Big A for the final home stand of the season.
