Twins beat Angels after game-ending video review of slide
And on the day after, there was no history to be made. No particular drama, no nervous anticipation, barely a speck of suspense to be had.
Albert Pujols, having joined eight others to hit 600 home runs the night before, was scarcely to be seen. He did not start and bounced into a double play as an eighth-inning pinch hitter.
All that was left was for the Angels on Sunday was a relatively quiet 3-2 loss to the Twins, a game that ended rather ignobly when Ben Revere was ruled to have slid past the bag upon a review.
“Well, you know, it ended,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. “It was a mistake on our part. Ben had the play beaten by three steps. Unfortunately, sometimes your slide is a little bit late, and his momentum carried him off the bag just enough to get caught.”
The offense could never seem to find its footing. Not that the Angels lack depth, but with Pujols rested and Mike Trout on the disabled list, Luis Valbuena and his .161 batting average hit cleanup.
The two runs the Angels did score against Minnesota’s Jose Berrios (4-1) were not exactly a classic offensive output. In the first inning, Eric Young was hit by a pitch and ultimately scored when Andrelton Simmons bounced into a double play. Valbuena doubled and scored on a Revere single in the fourth, but the Angels then loaded the bases with no outs and failed to add on.
Lost was a respectable outing by Ricky Nolasco (2-6). He gave up a solo home run to Jason Castro in the third, and after the Angels came back to take the 2-1 lead, a deciding two-run homer to Miguel Sano in the sixth.
“I think when he needed to make big pitches he did,” Scioscia said. “But there’s no doubt he was missing some spots. A couple mistakes. He battled like he always does and kept us in the game.”
A game that was still winnable after Revere singled with one out in the ninth against Twins closer Brandon Kintzler. Cliff Pennington popped up, and with Young at the plate, Revere broke for his steal of second.
He had it stolen easily, but his headfirst slide took him past the bag. One foot came off, and before he could bring the other down, he was tagged by shortstop Ehire Adrianza.
“Speed is a blessing and a curse sometimes in the game of baseball,” said Revere, adding that the Anaheim infield was so hard it made it difficult for him to end his slide.
“I tried to do everything I could to stop and it wasn’t happening,” he said. “Usually when the ground is hard like that, it’s difficult to stop. It kind of sucks, because E.Y. (Young) could definitely have tied the game or won the game.
“It’s a heartbreak, man. I feel like I let the team down today.”
Revere said he had ended a game in the same fashion once in the minors. Some lessons are harder to learn than others.
After all the excitement of Pujols’ grand slam to join the 600 club Saturday, it made for a disheartening loss for the Angels.
They finished their seven-game homestand 3-4, dropping three of four to the Twins, who came into Anaheim on a four-game losing streak.
The Angels dropped to 29-31 and a season-high 13 1/2 games back of the Astros in the American League West, drama also slipping away in the division race.
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