ANAHEIM ― In his fourth at-bat, Shohei Ohtani finally put a ball in play. He scalded it at a speed worthy of the reigning American League MVP. As was so often the case Friday night, gravity proved more powerful than any force the Angels could muster.
Ohtani’s 103-mph scorcher found the ground, then the glove of a Baltimore Orioles infielder, and before you knew it one bouncing ball became two outs. The Angels hit into four double plays – three against soft-tossing lefty starter Bruce Zimmermann – en route to a 5-3 loss before an announced crowd of 41,679 at Angel Stadium.
In frustrating fashion, the Angels kicked off their latest homestand by falling to a Baltimore team that lost 110 games in 2021. A late home run by Anthony Rendon and a solid start by left-hander Reid Detmers went for naught.
Detmers allowed only three hits (two singles and a double) across five innings. He allowed two runs, in part because right fielder Taylor Ward overthrew his cutoff man on a ball hit to right field in the second inning. That miscue allowed Anthony Santander to reach third base and Ramon Urías to take second on a routine single.
The next batter, Robinson Chirinos, shot a ground ball through a vacant right side of the infield to drive in both runners.
In his third start of the season, Detmers walked one batter and struck out four. He lowered his ERA to 6.57.
Archie Bradley, the first man out of the Angels’ bullpen, ran into a bit of bad luck out of the gate. The first four batters he faced reached on singles. The next two hit run-scoring groundouts. Bradley was relieved after one-third of an inning as the Angels found themselves trailing 5-0.
On this night, that proved too large a deficit to mount a comeback.
The Angels had a runner on first base in the second, third and fifth innings, only to hit into a double play each time. They finally scored in the sixth, when Max Stassi led off with a single and went to second base on an error by Santander in left field. Stassi ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Velazquez.
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Hey, baseball – where have all the home runs gone?
Mike Trout led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk, setting up Rendon’s home run on a 2-and-2 changeup. It was Rendon’s second home run of the season.
That proved to be Zimmermann’s final pitch. In 17 major league starts, he had never pitched into the seventh inning. His final line (six innings, five hits, two earned runs, one walk, six strikeouts) softened the mastery of his five efficient, shutout innings which preceded the Angels’ late rally.
With a fastball that topped out at 92 mph, complemented by a changeup, curveball and slider, Zimmerman struck out Ohtani three times in three plate appearances. When he grounded into the eighth-inning double play, it left Trout standing on deck.
Trout returned to the Angels’ lineup after getting four days off. He was hit by a pitch in the hand Sunday in Texas.
More to come on this story.