The Los Angeles Angels offense is, expectedly, struggling. With nearly all of its top producers on the injured list, L.A. has scored more than four runs only four times in the last 11 games. In six of those games, they scored two or less. Manager Ron Washington would normally take this chance to force action on the base paths and try an aggressive style of small ball.
But even that has not worked for the Angels. On Sunday against the Kansas City Royals, it required a three-hit day from Willie Calhoun — a triple shy of the cycle — just to secure two runs. Seth Lugo had a career-high 12 strikeouts in a 4-2 victory for Kansas City. Nike Goodrum and Mickey Moniak combined for six punch-outs on the day. This leaves Washington in a position to simply hope things turn around.
It’s not that the Angels aren’t capable of scoring runs, Washington believes, but rather a lack of consistency from a relatively inexperienced lineup, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:
“Well, we hope that the situations come up where you can do something to create some offense but we haven’t been putting ourselves in a position to create much offense,” Washington said. “We just have to wait till these guys get it together. They’re out there fighting their butt off. We just haven’t been able to consistently string things together. Last night we strung things together. Today we didn’t.”
It’s easy to diminish what the Angels offense is capable of, but Lugo’s performance was yet another in a string of quality outings for the Royals starter this season. Calhoun, who had half of the Angels’ hits, explained Lugo’s success.
“He was able to mix his pitches,” Calhoun said. “He wasn’t really leaving too many pitches in the heart of the plate. It’s tough to hit anyone when you’re on the black every single time. I feel like he’s been having a pretty good start to the year. He obviously has really good stuff. I’m confident that we’ll be able to turn the page and get back on track.”
The Angels would obviously like to perform more consistently. But Washington and the top decision-makers must understand that this is the result of a team that has Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Miguel Sanó and Luis Rengifo all on the injured list.
Angels-Cardinals probables
The Angels host the St. Louis Cardinals (16-24) for a three-game set. Below are the probable starters as both teams look to find some momentum as the season progresses.
Monday, May 13, 6:38 p.m. PT
Jose Soriano vs. Matthew Liberatore
Tuesday, May 14, 6:38 p.m. PT
Reid Detmers vs. Sonny Gray
Wednesday, May 15, 6:07 p.m. PT
Griffin Canning vs. Lance Lynn