Angels dominated by Blue Jays’ Marcus Stroman in 6-2 loss

The Angels carried a one-run lead into Sunday’s eighth inning at Angel Stadium. That they took it even that far was highly improbable, considering their starter, the beyond beleaguered state of their bullpen and their opponent.

The game’s remaining innings hewed closer to expectations, as the Angels’ relievers let up and talented Toronto right-hander Marcus Stroman did not. He required only 99 pitches to complete the Blue Jays’ 6-2 matinee victory. At one point, he retired 17 consecutive Angels.

Stroman, a feisty 5-foot-8 Long Island native, desires to deceive the opposition by delaying his delivery at times and speeding it up on other occasions. It can appear random. In a 3-and-1 count in the third inning, he quick-pitched a strike to Kole Calhoun, who was not yet set in his stance.

Umpire Ramon De Jesus penalized Stroman with a ball, which elicited protests from the pitcher and manager John Gibbons. De Jesus ejected Gibbons.

Calhoun said when he had looked up at Stroman, the ball was already heading toward him.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know what the [heck] would happen right there,” Calhoun said. “He told me ball four, so I just went to first base and let them figure it out.”

Stroman successfully executed the maneuver a few more times. But once Calhoun was awarded first base, Mike Trout soon singled, and Albert Pujols did too, scoring the club its first run. After doubling in the ninth inning, Pujols scored the Angels’ second run on a Andrelton Simmons single.

After Ezequiel Carrera singled in the first inning against Angels spot starter Daniel Wright, left fielder Ben Revere bobbled Jose Bautista’s single and threw late into the infield, but shortstop Simmons cut off the throw to third base and flipped it to second, where he got Bautista out trying for second.

Wright struck out ex-Angel Kendrys Morales to end the first and finished the second with ease. He issued a two-out walk to Kevin Pillar in the third, then picked him off, and walked Carrera to lead off the fourth. He picked him off, too.

“I kind of got lucky,” Wright said. “I caught a couple guys leaning.”

Wright worked around a leadoff single to finish the fifth without a run tarnishing his career-best line. Manager Mike Scioscia determined he’d extracted all he could, and attempted to piece together 12 outs from his patchwork bullpen.

“He did what we hoped for this afternoon,” Scioscia said.

In came right-hander Blake Parker for an inning, then left-hander Jose Alvarez, and right-hander Deolis Guerra for the eighth. Guerra issued a leadoff walk, and then yielded a one-out homer to Devon Travis.

Scioscia had little to choose from for further relief. Right-hander Bud Norris pitched Friday and Saturday and has never pitched in three consecutive games. Right-hander Yusmeiro Petit threw three innings Friday.

So, burly right-hander Brooks Pounders jogged in for his Angels debut. Over 1 1/3 innings, he gave up two homers, a triple, a double, a single and a walk, turning a game within reach into a rout.

“Everybody’s been pitching a lot down there,” Scioscia said. “This is one of those games where it came back and got us a bit. There comes a point where it’ll get you, and it did this afternoon.”

The Angels (8-12) hope that point does not reemerge, but indications are it will. At the start of spring training, the industry consensus said their top four relievers were Cam Bedrosian, Huston Street, Andrew Bailey and JC Ramirez. None of those men are in the current bullpen.

The Angels’ minus-20 run differential is the American League’s worst. Among AL West teams, they’ve scored the fewest runs and given up the most.

pedro.moura@latimes.com

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