Angels are pounded in Boston, 17-8
It was merely ugly when Joe Saunders departed Monday night, the Angels left-hander absorbing a four-inning, seven-run, nine-hit, two-home-run pounding in Fenway Park.
By the time the Boston Red Sox took a wrecking ball to relievers Matt Palmer and Brian Stokes, who yielded 10 more runs, 11 hits and two homers in three innings, it was downright hideous.
The Angels gave up 20 hits in a 17-8 loss, the 28th time in franchise history they’ve given up 20 hits or more, and if not for the meaningless four-spot they put up in the ninth inning, the score would have been even more lopsided.
“That was like the Mike Tyson-Peter McNeeley fight,” center fielder Torii Hunter said, invoking the memory of the 1995 heavyweight bout in which Tyson knocked out the Medfield, Mass., native in 89 seconds. “We got beat down.”
Mike Lowell had four hits (three doubles) and four runs batted in, J.D. Drew had four hits and three RBIs, and Kevin Youkilis (solo), Bill Hall (two-run), Adrian Beltre (two-run) and Dustin Pedroia (three-run) homered to end Boston’s losing streak at three games and extend the Angels’ losing streak to four games.
“This wasn’t pretty,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Some guys are going to have to get into their game and make adjustments. We keep hoping for steps in the right direction; this is not one of them.”
Saunders took another huge step backward with a shoddy start in which he walked four, struck out three and threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of 26 batters. Of his 107 pitches, only 56 were strikes, “and that’s not a good ratio,” Scioscia said.
After going 17-7 with a 3.41 earned-run average in 2008 and 16-7 with a 4.60 ERA in 2009, Saunders is 1-5 with a 7.04 ERA in six starts.
About his only consolation was that the most qualified candidate to replace him in the rotation, Palmer, was even shakier, giving up six runs and five hits in 1 2/3 innings.
“We’re not at the point where we have to peel him back [from the rotation],” Scioscia said of Saunders. “This is nothing he can’t clean up in his bullpen sessions. We’re not anticipating shutting him down at this point.”
Saunders said his velocity and delivery are good, which is why his slump is so baffling.
“I’m just getting all my bad ones out of the way,” Saunders said. “They say you have five good ones and five bad ones and the other 20 make you a man. I’ve had one good game in six starts. I’ve got to have some more good ones and keep the team in the game.”
The game began with promise — Saunders retired the side in order in the first inning — but took a sudden 180-degree turn in the second.
Youkilis hit a prodigious homer to left field to lead off the second, Hall hit a two-run homer to left field, and Lowell’s two-run double in the third made it 5-0.
The Angels scored three runs in the third inning on singles by Kendry Morales and Hideki Matsui, Juan Rivera’s walk, Maicer Izturis’ two-run double and Howie Kendrick’s run-scoring groundout.
But Hunter cost the Angels a run when, after leading off with a walk, he took off for second base while pitcher Clay Buchholz was still in the stretch and was thrown out.
“I made a baserunning mistake and killed our momentum,” Hunter said. “I was just trying to force the issue. We were down. It’s like when you’re in a corner, boxed in, you start kicking, clawing, scratching, biting, doing everything you can. That’s what I did.”
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