HOUSTON — The Angels’ experiment to turn Michael Lorenzen into a starter, which was going so well for the first two months, has not worked lately.

The right-hander gave up eight runs in three innings in the Angels’ 8-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Friday night.

Lorenzen now has an 8.61 ERA over his last five starts, after posting a 3.19 ERA in his first eight starts.

“I’m not going through it because I’m not trying,” Lorenzen said. “But trying isn’t good enough in this league. You’ve got to get results. Got to get the job done. I want to pull my hair out right now. I’m going crazy. I’ve got to keep working. Trusting the process. That’s all I got.”

The Angels signed Lorenzen, 30, to a $7 million, one-year deal last winter, bringing the Orange County native home and giving him the opportunity to return to the rotation after working as a reliever for the previous six years.

Lorenzen wanted to do it – and the Angels thought it could work – because he throws six pitches, including five that he uses regularly. That pitch mix was wasted in short bullpen outings, they figured.

Lorenzen said what’s happened to him this year as a starter is similar to stretches he’s endured as a reliever, though. He feels his stuff is the same, but for whatever reason, he will go through a period when his performance declines.

“I go through this (stuff) every year,” Lorenzen said. “Trying to figure out how to make it not last as long. I literally go through it every year. It drives me crazy. The stuff is the same. The velo is the same. I just go through ruts like this. You just got to trust the process. For some reason, the results get better.”

On Friday night he allowed a season-high seven earned runs.

Lorenzen pitched a scoreless first, thanks to a double play. In the second, he threw a knee-high fastball inside to Yuli Gurriel, and he golfed it into the Crawford boxes over the left field fence. An out later, Jake Meyers hit a Lorenzen fastball the other way, over the right field fence.

The third inning started with third baseman Tyler Wade unable to cleanly get the ball out of his glove, for an error. Kyle Tucker then hit a routine ground ball that got through the hole because the Astros put on a hit-and-run.

A sacrifice fly drove in a run. After a walk to Gurriel, J.J. Matijevic doubled home two more runs. Two batters later, Chas McCormick got a fastball over the middle and he launched it over the right field fence, completing the six-run inning.

After Lorenzen was done, Elvis Peguero pitched three scoreless innings. It was Peguero’s first outing since allowing four runs in a game in which he was apparently tipping his pitches. Oliver Ortega then worked two scoreless innings.

“I can’t say enough about what those two guys did tonight,” Angels acting manager Ray Montgomery said. “The command of the zone was great. Peguero was working quick innings gave us some length and then Oli came in behind him and did very similar. It was great work by both of them.”

Offensively, the Angels could do nothing with right-hander Cristian Javier, who was pitching for the first time since he worked the first seven innings of a combined no-hitter last weekend.

Related Articles

Shohei Ohtani hit a first-inning homer – his 18th of the season – but then the Angels did not have another baserunner against Javier. They struck out 14 times in seven innings against Javier.

“Obviously, the swing and miss was pretty pertinent tonight,” Montgomery said. “He was riding the ball at the top of the zone. He’s coming off a pretty good start, if I recall, and he’s in a pretty good stretch right now.”

The Angels didn’t have another baserunner until a Luis Rengifo bloop single against reliever Bryan Abreu in the eighth. They ended up going quietly, dropping the first game of this series just after they won two of three against the Chicago White Sox.

The Angels have played .500 ball since ending their 14-game losing streak early last month, which is not good enough to make up ground in the postseason chase. They have just over half a season left.

“We still have plenty of season left to make a run at this thing,” Montgomery said. “I don’t think anybody’s had any other thoughts other than managing through this and still staying in striking distance and keeping (Lorenzen) and the other guys motivated and on track.”