Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington would like to see a more focused effort when his team continues a three-game series against the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.
Mitch Keller recorded his second career complete game and Edward Olivares hit his first career grand slam to lead Pittsburgh to a 4-1 victory on Monday.
Los Angeles has lost three straight games and 14 of its past 17. Angels starter Tyler Anderson pitched well aside from Olivares’ homer, but his teammates struggled to create any offense.
“It just seems like for all of us, we’re just in a bad stretch, so that one (mistake) you make really hurts you,” Anderson said. “And it’s happened to all of us. It’s not always that way. It’s just one of those stretches right now. If we keep doing our job, we’ll be OK.”
The Angels have scored a total of three runs in their past three games. Washington expressed his frustration on Monday after Nolan Schanuel was thrown out at home with no outs in the fourth inning while attempting to score from first base on Mickey Moniak’s double.
“Our starting pitching is starting to come around,” Washington said. “Now we have to do something offensively to support them, and we have to stop taking ourselves out of innings.
“You can still be aggressive, but you have to understand the situation.”
Pittsburgh has won three straight after a five-game losing streak. Manager Derek Shelton said he was encouraged by his team’s approach at the plate on Monday.
“I think we are having better at-bats,” Shelton said. “Ke’Bryan (Hayes) squared a ball off the changeup in the gap. Connor (Joe) hit a ball right to the wall. Bryan (Reynolds) smothered a ball to (Angels third baseman) Cole Tucker. We took good swings the entire night. I think that was very encouraging.”
The Pirates also received a spark from Olivares, who broke out of a lengthy slump with a second-inning double and a third-inning grand slam.
“Just to break it open there, I think we had baserunners on a lot of the innings, and for Olivares to just crank one out there, it lifted everyone in the dugout,” Keller said. “It was a huge energy boost that we needed.”
Pittsburgh right-hander Quinn Priester (0-2, 3.31 ERA) opposes Los Angeles left-hander Patrick Sandoval (1-5, 5.91) on Tuesday.
Priester, 23, allowed three runs (two earned) over six innings in a 4-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. The Pirates were shut out in each of his past two starts.
Priester owns a 1.83 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 16 1/3 innings in three starts this season. He is set to make his first career appearance against the Angels.
Sandoval recorded a season-high 10 strikeouts and yielded two runs over five innings in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old settled in after giving up two runs in the second inning, striking out five of the last eight hitters he faced.
Sandoval owns a 4.60 ERA in three home starts this season compared to a 7.16 mark in four outings away from Angel Stadium. He will be making his first career appearance against the Pirates.
–Field Level Media
