Angels are outmatched in 13-3 loss to Astros

His forehead glistening with sweat, his confidence shot, his future uncertain, Tim Lincecum trudged off the field at Minute Maid Park on Sunday afternoon. His day was done not a half-hour after it had begun.

It was the 268th major league start by the man who was once baseball’s best pitcher, and it was unequivocally his worst. It might well have been one of his last. Mustering mostly mid-80s fastballs and watching Houston hammer them about, Lincecum retired only four of the 13 Astros he faced before Manager Mike Scioscia relieved his misery.

He yielded two home runs to Jose Altuve, another to Luis Valbuena, two more extra-base hits, and eight runs in all as the Astros routed the Angels, 13-3, and swept their weekend series.

“Three home runs in an inning and a third, seven hits in that span, that’s pretty pathetic,” Lincecum said. “Anything I was putting over the plate was a hittable pitch.”

The prevailing expectation when the Angels signed Lincecum in May was that he would struggle to survive because of abated fastball velocity. His control has proved even more problematic.

He’s walking more batters than ever before, and, after seven starts and 30 innings as an Angel, Lincecum’s earned-run average is a ghastly 8.70. Three hundred and thirty-three major leaguers have pitched at least 30 innings this season. Only two have ERAs worse than the 32-year-old Lincecum.

He’d understand if the team demoted him to the bullpen, he said dejectedly Sunday. Still, Scioscia said he will remain in the rotation for at least one more start, likely Friday against Boston at Angel Stadium.

“Wherever I’m at, I’m still going to keep trying to grind it out, whether it’s the bullpen or a starting position,” Lincecum said. “Hopefully that will take me in the direction I need to go. I’ve got to find me.”

The Angels did not aid Lincecum’s search, providing lackluster defense, a theme through his starts so far. In the first inning, Preston Tucker lifted a fly into short left field that descended halfway between Daniel Nava and shortstop Andrelton Simmons for a double. Simmons missed a run-scoring single in the second inning, and in the fifth he misread Gregorio Petit’s attempt at a force play and missed the throw.

The Angels ceded defeat soon after that. Scioscia replaced four of his position players in the sixth, by which time his team trailed by a dozen runs. Neither starters nor reserves managed much against two journeyman Astros right-handers, Mike Fiers and Scott Feldman.

When the Angels signed Lincecum, Scioscia was quick to note that he and his staff would not form a full opinion on the right-hander until he had settled in as a starter.

“The litmus test is going to be not Start 1 when he gets with us,” Scioscia said then. “It’s: What’s he like in Start 5, 10 or 15?”

But he did not expect this. And, if Lincecum starts every five days the rest of the season, he stands to draw $775,000 in incentive payments. So, there is motivation to move him to the bullpen, or off the roster altogether.

There is also a lack of potential fill-ins as the Angels explore possible trades of their more established starting pitchers. The team has few viable starting options in the minor leagues. Nate Smith, a 24-year-old left-hander with a 4.40 triple-A ERA who projects as a potential No. 5 starter, is their top pitching prospect.

Seven years ago, Lincecum owned back-to-back Cy Young awards and appeared on a path to the Hall of Fame. He starred for two more seasons, and then has been below-average or bad since.

He does not know the solution to his struggles. But he has to believe that there is one.

“It’s just me going back every week and trying to figure something out,” he said. “It’s not necessarily the things I need to be working on. I still feel like I’m in spring training.”

Scioscia said he is certain Lincecum’s changeup and curveball remain good enough to get major leaguers out. And though scouts who have observed his recent starts do not agree, Scioscia said he is certain, too, that Lincecum retains enough fastball velocity. To him, success will be determined by one additional factor.

“It’s only going to work,” Scioscia said Sunday, “if he can harness the fastball command.”

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Twitter: @pedromoura