Other than Shohei Ohtani, Angels don’t muster much against Dodgers
The Angels almost couldn’t get a single run off the Dodgers in two consecutive games.
If not for Shohei Ohtani’s monster bat breaking up Tyler Anderson’s no-hit bid in the ninth inning Wednesday, they would have concluded this edition of the Freeway Series without putting up much of a fight.
“Anderson pitched a heck of a game,” Angels’ interim manager Phil Nevin said.
With one out in the ninth inning, Ohtani stared down the Dodgers starter and crushed his first pitch, an 86.9-mph cutter, to the right-field corner.
Ohtani broke for first and didn’t stop until he reached third. He eventually scored on Matt Duffy’s single. But it was all for naught. The Dodgers still walked away with a 4-1 win over the Angels.
“This game’s hard,” Nevin said. “I’ll never forget how hard it was to play, I promise you that. … I wouldn’t consider this getting blown out at all. It just doesn’t look good because you don’t get a hit until the ninth.”
To make matters worse, the update on Anthony Rendon’s wrist before the game also didn’t afford much clarity for the Angels.
The third baseman was pulled in the middle of Tuesday’s Freeway Series loss at Dodger Stadium and ruled day to day with more evaluation to be done Wednesday. But before Wednesday’s game, neither Nevin nor athletic trainer Mike Frostad had much more to offer, other than to say Rendon felt sore and they’re hoping he feels better during their series in Seattle.
Rendon wasn’t in Wednesday’s lineup, but Nevin, at least before the game, had not ruled out his two-time Silver Slugger making an appearance off the bench.
The nature of Rendon’s wrist injury differs day to day, according to Nevin. And avoiding the injured list, for the most part, will depend on his pain tolerance, according to Frostad.
The Angels’ conversations on whether to put him back on the IL will start sooner rather than later.
Home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson avoided major injury after a piece of a broken bat flew through a slit in his mask at Tuesday’s Dodgers-Angels game.
“He’s exhausting all options, treatment and everything he’s doing,” Nevin said. “Feels like today, if he can give it a day, maybe tomorrow when we get to Seattle he may feel better. It’s more on, he wakes up each day and it feels differently.
“Hopefully tomorrow he wakes up and he feels better. If not, then we’re gonna have to start those [IL] conversations.”
Asked whether Rendon was activated off the IL too soon, Frostad said his return wasn’t “any sooner than we were expecting. ... Once we had another opinion on it, we maybe sped some things up a bit [and] we’re going off of him as well.”
For now, the Angels have no plans to run him through another MRI exam or give him injections to help with his discomfort — the word Rendon used Tuesday to describe what he was feeling. His wrist issue is a flare-up of the injury that sidelined him May 28.
While utility infielder Jack Mayfield is an option as a replacement, he was not listed as available. Nevin has no intention of putting Rendon on the IL without at least getting him some extra rest to see if his wrist improves.
Nevin reviewed video of Rendon’s at-bats Tuesday and did notice his top hand start to come off the bat when he swung — and that he winced while doing so. But the issue, as explained by Rendon, doesn’t just bother him at the plate. It affects him when he’s fielding as well.,
“I appreciate what he’s doing trying to go out there for his club,” Nevin said. “It’s really like how he’s functioning and the function’s not great right now, but it changes throughout the day.”
In the 45 games he’s played this season, Rendon has 37 hits, including five home runs, 24 RBIs and 23 walks.
He returned from his last IL stint June 10.
More Mariners’ starters
Right-hander Michael Lorenzen is scheduled to pitch for the Angels on Friday, the second game of their series with the Mariners.
Left-hander Patrick Sandoval will start Saturday’s first game of the day’s two-game set in Seattle.
Angels interim manager Phil Nevin changed up his infielders, first base and third base coaches, while Anthony Rendon (wrist) left Tuesday’s loss early.
Injury updates
This season’s Angels’ IL longtimers have made some progress.
Right-handed pitcher Cooper Criswell (right shoulder soreness), who’s been on the injured list since the beginning of the season, has been throwing off a mound and facing live batters at the team’s facility in Arizona, according to Frostad.
He last faced live hitters Tuesday and is expected to have another live BP session Friday.
The Angels hope to put him in live game simulations if all goes well after Friday.
Fellow right-handed pitcher Chris Rodriguez (shoulder surgery) started playing catch this week after his six-week shutdown. The Angels don’t have a timeline for his return and are skeptical he will make an appearance this season.
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