Angels don’t enjoy their quiet time in 4-2 loss to Royals
The pitchers worked in tandem, upping the ante out after out, inning after inning.
Saturday night at Angel Stadium, neither Royals left-hander Bruce Chen nor Angels right-hander Ervin Santana would go quietly, though most of the hitters did.
By the seventh-inning stretch, nine outs stood between Chen and a perfect game. That opportunity didn’t exist for Santana, but the possibility of a shutout still did.
An inning later, both those possibilities expired, and when it was done, the result closely mirrored Friday night’s outcome: The Royals won a close game, this time by 4-2, and the Angels wasted a brilliant performance by a starter.
A night earlier it was Joe Saunders, who pitched eight strong innings in a game the Angels lost, 2-1, in the 10th. Saturday it was Santana (8-6), whose final line — 8 1/3 innings, seven hits, four runs — was not indicative of how well he pitched.
“We’re really not swinging the bats to give our pitchers a chance just to go out there and bring all their stuff into the game with the confidence and the comfort level that one mistake is not going to beat them,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said.
Granted, Royals pitchers have posted a major league-best 2.57 earned-run average since June 21. But Angels starters have allowed just five earned runs in their last 22 1/3 innings.
For the Angels, the problem rests in their bats. They are hitting only .234 on the 12-game home stand that ends Sunday, and when they needed one hit to save themselves from a loss Saturday, their most proven clutch hitter couldn’t deliver.
Hideki Matsui, with the tying run at second and two outs in the ninth, struck out swinging, and the Angels stranded runners at second and third against Royals closer Joakim Soria.
“The opposing pitching has been good, but we haven’t taken advantage of scoring opportunities,” Matsui said through an interpreter.
From the start, a historic pitching night seemed possible, perhaps because Jim Joyce was working first base — the same umpire who, on June 2, blew a call at first on what should have been the final out, costing the Detroit Tigers’ Armando Galarraga a perfect game.
Chen’s stab at perfection never came down to a call. Erick Aybar ended it with a leadoff single in the seventh inning, becoming the first Angels batter to reach base after 18 were retired consecutively.
In the eighth, Chen finally got some run support, when Jose Guillen hit a two-run single to center. Jeff Mathis got a run back for the Angels with a one-out homer to center in the bottom of the inning.
Chen (5-2) was pulled for right-handed reliever Kyle Farnsworth after that, and walked off to a respectable ovation after throwing 71/3 innings in which he gave up two hits and one run.
Chen is the 19th pitcher this season to take a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and while Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said some unlucky bounces — and great diving grabs — stopped their offense, he gave credit where it was due.
“This was the best I’ve ever seen him,” Hunter said of Chen. “I think he figured out something and it looks good.”
In the ninth, Santana left after giving up consecutive singles. Unfortunately for him and the Angels, both runners he left on base scored, giving the Royals a 4-2 lead.
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