Patrick Sandoval’s 2022 season came to a close on Tuesday night with a strong outing against the Oakland Athletics. Over 6.0 innings, the Los Angeles Angels starter gave up no runs on five hits and one walk while striking out six. The scoreless outing brought about an impressive statistical resume for the year.
He finishes 2022 with a 2.91 ERA in 148.2 innings over 27 starts, all career-bests. He had a higher 1.339 WHIP, but made up for it with 151 strikeouts. It may have been a difficult season for Sandoval at times, but he did everything he could to end on a high note.
Angels interim manager Phil Nevin went into depth on his praise of Sandoval, and why he’s become such a trustworthy pitcher in only his second year as a full-time starter, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:
“I think each day out he’s showing me more and more maturity and more and more leadership,” Nevin said before the game. “Things he’s done on the mound obviously have been great this year. There’s a lot of things that everybody needs to improve on, but his demeanor and the way he’s been able to rebound from moments that don’t go his way out there, whether it’s a bloop hit or an umpire call or a beach ball on the field, he seemed to be able to reel himself back in and not let it affect the next pitch as much as it has before.”
Despite the good season numbers, Sandoval only won six games, finishing with a 6-9 record on the year. This is, in part, because many of his starts went just like Tuesday. Sandoval left the game after six innings with the Angels holding a 4-0 lead.
Jo Adell, Shohei Ohtani, and Taylor Ward each had RBIs en route to building a solid lead against a struggling Athletics offense. But Jimmy Herget allowed two run in the eighth inning to make it 4-2. Then Jose Quijada and Aaron Loup combined to allow two more runs to tie the game in the ninth.
Finally, Zack Weiss allowed the ghost runner to score from second, giving the Athletics a 5-4 win and forcing a no-decision on Sandoval despite not allowing a run for two-thirds of the game.
The Angels bullpen has fluctuated between elite and troublesome all season long. During the team’s seven-game win streak, the relief crew couldn’t be touched. But on Tuesday, they reverted to old habits at the expense of Sandoval.
Ohtani extends hitting streak
With an RBI double in the fifth inning, Ohtani didn’t just give the Angels a 3-0 lead. He also extended his ongoing hit streak to 18 games. It was his lone hit in the ballgame — finishing 1-for-4 with a walk — and allows him to potentially reach 20 games by the end of the season.
Ohtani is batting .348 with an OPS of .824 in his last 18 games, as he does not have a home run.