After getting outscored 31-3 while being swept in three games over the weekend, the Los Angeles Angels continue a 10-game homestand by opening a four-game series against the Athletics on Monday in Anaheim, Calif.
Rookie Walbert Urena (1-4, 3.29 ERA) will make his first career appearance against the A’s. He will be opposed by fellow right-hander J.T. Ginn (2-1, 3.12), who is 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA in two career starts versus Los Angeles.
The Angels have struggled offensively since a promising 11-10 start to the season, scoring two runs or fewer in 17 of their last 26 games. That stretch includes each of their past six games — all losses.
Still, first-year manager Kurt Suzuki remains optimistic that his lineup — led by three-time American League MVP Mike Trout, 2019 AL home run leader Jorge Soler and hard-hitting shortstop Zach Neto — eventually will turn things around.
The Angels rank tied for 27th in the majors in batting average (.228) and 26th in runs (186) but are 11th in home runs with 52, one more than the AL West-leading Athletics.
“Last six games, two runs or less,” Suzuki said. “They’re still getting their work in and that’s all that you can do. I’ve played this game a long time and have gone through some ruts. You wish you had a simple answer but there really isn’t a simple answer. You continue to do your work and there’s going to be one thing that’s going to click, and everybody’s going to start hitting, and they’re going to be like ‘Wow, that is six games in a row you scored eight or more runs.’
“Hopefully that time comes soon.”
The A’s, just 23-23 and with a negative-13 run differential, hold a one-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the AL West. Like the Angels, they come in off a loss on Sunday, allowing eight runs in an eighth inning that featured a pair of costly errors and a wind-aided Harrison Bader grand slam to lose the series with the San Francisco Giants.
The Athletics committed five errors in back-to-back losses to the Giants.
“We’ve got to get back to work,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said after the game on Sunday. “We turn the page on this game today. It’s tough to win games when you give teams extra at-bats, when you give away outs, when you don’t execute and put stress on the pitching staff, and then it snowballs. And that’s exactly what happened this homestand. We need to play good, clean baseball and the results will take care of themselves.”
First baseman Nick Kurtz went 0-for-1 but walked three times in Sunday’s 10-1 loss to extend his on-base streak to 40 games. Mark McGwire holds the team record of 62 set in 1996.
Los Angeles, which hasn’t played a divisional opponent since taking two of three games from the Seattle Mariners on April 3-5, won nine of the 13 meetings with the Athletics last season.
–Field Level Media
