Late Angels rally not enough to overcome poor pitching

The Texas afternoon scorched along as the Angels played another elongated game at Globe Life Park. Justin Upton engaged in a futile competition against the heat, chugging as much water as he could until his hip twinged twice while he nestled into his stance in Sunday’s ninth inning.

“I was sweating more than I was drinking,” he said. “I lost today.”

So did the Angels, despite the efforts of their new left fielder, who reached base five times Sunday. That includes the ninth, after he shooed away trainer Adam Nevala and manager Mike Scioscia. Upton exited the game once he touched first base on a walk.

That brought up Albert Pujols as the tying run. The bases were loaded without an out, but Pujols bit on an outside slider from Rangers reliever Tony Barnette and popped out. Up next, Andrelton Simmons drilled a double to the left-field wall, scoring two of his teammates. A strikeout, two walks and a run later, Luis Valbuena approached, needing only a single to even the game.

He grounded out, and the Angels lost 7-6. Upton and Mike Trout reached base 20 times in three Texas games and the Angels scored 22 runs, yet they won only once and jetted to Oakland as series losers.

Pitching was the problem, just as it will be the problem if the Angels qualify for the playoffs, just as it will be the the most significant impediment to them doing so over the next four weeks.

They have potential-filled starting pitchers, three of them, in Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs and Garrett Richards. But Heaney and Skaggs are struggling in their returns from injuries that claimed most of their seasons, and Richards will return Tuesday from an ailment that exacted almost all of his.

On Sunday, Heaney failed to finish four frenzied innings and permitted three homers, as his 2017 home-run total climbed to an alarming 11 in 19 1/3 innings.

He pitched around a first-inning single, then permitted a run on two singles and two walks in the second. Four pitches into the third, Heaney let a breaking ball catch too much of the strike zone, and Elvis Andrus golfed it into the bleachers.

After he issued a leadoff walk in the fourth, Heaney surrendered back-to-back homers to Robinson Chirinos and Delino DeShields. Both times, on full counts, the hitters anticipated the fastballs they then received.

Heaney said he can avoid that issue if he is wielding the sharp version of his fastball, which has fluctuated in velocity so far in his four starts.

“Today, I didn’t have it,” he said. “But I also didn’t do a good job of trying to throw something else to keep the guys off balance.

The 26-year-old left-hander repeated his mantra: If he repeats his process, the results he seeks will follow.

“I know that’s not the most comforting thing,” he said. “But I know that when I do what I need to do, what I can do, I get good results.”

In the Angels’ first inning Sunday, C.J. Cron reached to nab an outside pitch and powered it to the right-field wall. The bases-loaded double scored two runs.

Over the next three innings against Texas left-hander Martin Perez, the Angels notched three singles but hit into two double plays. They scrounged together a run in the fifth, when Trout singled, Upton walked, and Pujols rapped a single into left.

Reliever Blake Wood held the score at 5-3 until the sixth, when rookie right-hander Keynan Middleton walked DeShields and served up another home run to Andrus. That set the stage for the Angels’ near comeback.

After the defeat, Scioscia spoke excitedly of the run-production opportunities presented to Pujols in Texas, aided by Upton and Brandon Phillips, the new acquisitions. And he downplayed his concern over the state of his starting rotation.

“The potential’s there,” Scioscia said, pointing to a successful Skaggs start in Seattle and Heaney’s most recent outing before Sunday. “Right now, they’ve hit some rough patches, but these guys are good pitchers.”

Pressed, Scioscia says what he always says, that every major league manager falls asleep every night fretting about his rotation, that this is no different.

“I’m sleeping OK,” Scioscia said.

Short hops

Third baseman Yunel Escobar (strained oblique) is scheduled to resume swinging a bat Monday in Oakland. He’ll miss a few more days, at least. …The Angels recalled right-hander Eduardo Paredes, their 32nd active player. Still to be added is third baseman Jefry Marte, among others. …After starting all three games over the weekend in Texas, catcher Martin Maldonado has 116 games caught, which leads the majors. Though they now have three catchers on their active roster, the Angels do not plan on lessening his workload down the stretch.

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Follow Pedro Moura on Twitter @pedromoura