ANAHEIM — Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki can take some solace in the fact that he’s seen something like this before.

Suzuki and Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon were both a part of the 2019 Washington Nationals, who famously rebounded from a 19-31 start to win the World Series.

Although that team never lost 14 in a row, their record dipped much farther under .500 than the current Angels, who were 27-31 heading into Thursday’s game.

Suzuki said the similarity between the Nationals and Angels is that both teams were missing key players to injuries. The Nationals played much of the first quarter of the season with shortstop Trea Turner and Rendon injured.

The Angels currently have Rendon and outfielder Taylor Ward on the injured list, and three-time American League MVP Mike Trout is day to day with a hamstring injury.

“You know it’s very kind of similar,” Suzuki said. “Guys were hurt. We just said ‘Stick with it. When we get the big guns back, we’ll be fine. We have too much talent in the room.’

“Honestly, just keep going out and playing. There’s really no secret sauce for this. It’s baseball. You play 162 games. You’re gonna go through slumps, maybe not as bad as 14 in a row, but you’re gonna go through some stretches.”

The Nationals hit rock bottom on May 24. They didn’t get back to .500 until June 27, when they were 40-40. They finished the season with 11 victories in their last 12 games to finish at 93-69, which was good enough for a wild-card spot. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League wild-card game, then they took out the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals in the NL playoffs. They beat the Houston Astros in a seven-game World Series.

The Angels have a couple of advantages over those Nationals, because they built up an early cushion to help them absorb this losing stretch.  Also, there are now three wild card berths per league, instead of two.

“It’s just gonna make it feel that much better when we do well and come out on top,” Suzuki said. “It’s gonna make it feel that much more special.”

TROUT UPDATE

Trout was out of the lineup for a second straight game because of groin tightness. The Angels still have not placed him on the injured list, because they insist that he could be well enough to play any day.

“He feels a lot better today,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “We like the way the progression is going.”

NO NOAH

The Angels could have used right-hander Noah Syndergaard to face the New York Mets, his former team, on Sunday in the nationally televised finale of this weekend’s series.

Instead, they are using Monday’s day off to give him two extra days of rest before he faces the Dodgers on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

Nevin said Syndergaard is fine physically, but the Angels want to take the opportunity to give him some more rest. Syndergaard has pitched just two innings in the past two seasons because of Tommy John surgery. He’s already at 46-1/3 innings this season.

Related Articles

Lately, his performances have been mixed, alternating good and bad games for the past month. He has a 3.69 ERA after allowing one run in six innings on Monday against the Boston Red Sox.

NOTES

The Angels are also giving an extra day to Michael Lorenzen and Patrick Sandoval, having them start on Saturday and Sunday against the Mets. They have not announced Friday’s starter, but left-hander Jhonathan Diaz was scratched from his start at Triple-A Salt Lake on Thursday. …

Brandon Marsh was not in the Angels’ lineup on Thursday, but Nevin said it was just a day off.

UP NEXT

Angels (TBD) vs. Mets (RHP Tylor Megill, 4-2, 4.11), Friday, 6:38 p.m., Bally Sports West, 830 AM