Sunday, December 1, 2024

Angels can’t overcome Griffin Canning’s rough start against Brewers

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ANAHEIM — It wasn’t so much the first inning that got right-hander Griffin Canning in trouble this time. It was the first, second and fourth innings that put the Angels in a sizable hole that neither Canning nor the rest of the team could completely overcome.

But the Angels tried with a late rally that came up short in a 6-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.

Trailing, 6-0, the Angels scored three runs in the ninth before putting two men on first and second base with two outs. Taylor Ward then blasted a 2-and-2 pitch to the wall that Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick managed to snag, ending the Angels’ comeback bid.

But before any of the 27,967 fans got fully out of their seats, the umpires called for a replay of the final out. Just to be sure.

“I thought it was a tie ballgame,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He (Frelick) went up there and got it off the wall. I wanted to see if he caught it off the screen, but it was legit.”

Ward said he wasn’t sure if Frelick was going to reach the ball.

“It’s baseball,” he said. “It is what it is.”

The brief comeback was a welcomed respite from the other eight innings. Up until then, the Angels couldn’t muster much offense against Brewers starter Tobias Myers (4-2). The right-hander held the Angels scoreless on four hits, striking out six and walking two to pick up the victory.

“We didn’t quit,” Washington said. “We just couldn’t do anything with the start of the game. We put ourselves in position to pick and peck and maybe get a run here and a run there, but we just couldn’t get to him (Myers). Then we took care of the bullpen when they came in, but it wasn’t enough.”

Canning came into the game against the Brewers having allowed 18 earned runs in his 14 first innings this season. He said after his previous outing that he has had trouble settling in. It took him a few innings longer on Tuesday, which only made things worse for the right-hander.

Canning was looking to end a series of rocky starts, but he never seemingly found his groove as the game wore on and the Brewers held on.

The Brewers took a 1-0 lead with two outs in the first on a home run by Christian Yelich, his sixth this season and 200th of the former Westlake High star’s career. They added another run in the second when Frelick, who had doubled, scored on a wild pitch by Canning, his first of two.

Frelick went 2 for 3 with two runs scored before his game-ending heroics.

Canning managed to get out of a sticky third inning when a quick-thinking throw by second baseman Brandon Drury to catcher Logan O’Hoppe on an attempted steal of home prevented the early going from getting worse for Canning. Until it did.

The Brewers struck for three more runs in the fourth on a two-run double by Jackson Chourio, who then scored on a fielding error by Jo Adell, the Angels’ third miscue of the game.

“That part of the game right there, put us in the position we were in at the end of the ball game,” Washington said. “If we could have gotten to that ball, they might have gotten two runs out of that, but it would have been a closer ball game.”

After putting two on in the sixth, Canning (2-8) was done, getting tagged for all six runs – five of them earned – leaving him with a bloated 5.02 ERA. He gave up eight hits and struck out four while burning through 100 pitches in his fourth consecutive loss.

“Anytime you don’t pitch well, it’s frustrating,” Canning said. “So much work goes into it day to day in between starts. You want success but sometimes it just doesn’t turn out that way.”

Right-hander Roansy Contreras came on with no outs in the sixth and immediately loaded the bases by walking Frelick. The Brewers then added another run on Chourio’s sacrifice fly to right, scoring Rhys Hoskins, who had singled to start the inning for a 6-0 lead.

With two outs in the second, the Angels got back-to-back singles from Drury and Zach Neto, but they couldn’t get them across the plate.

Drury started at second in his first game back off the injured list. He had missed 34 games because of a hamstring injury he suffered on May 8.

The Angels again got two men on in the sixth, including Nolan Schanuel who went 3 for 4 for the game, but stranded them when Willie Calhoun hit into a double play.

Despite the rough day, Canning took solace in watching the Angels’ late-game play.

“That was awesome … showing not to give in, not to roll over,” he said. “To bring the tying run up and have Ward do what he did.”

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