Angels beat Giants 8-1 behind Andrew Heaney’s strong start and Anthony Rendon’s five RBI
SAN FRANCISCO — The Angels didn’t need Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday night.
They had another pitcher who shined playing both ways.
In an 8-1 rout of the San Francisco Giants, Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney did more than just toss 6 ⅓ strong innings, giving up one run while striking out seven batters.
In his first two trips to the plate, batting eighth in the lineup during a National League game with no designated hitter, Heaney had a single in the third inning and a walk in the fourth, contributing to his team’s offensive outburst in both frames as the Angels earned a two-game series split at Oracle Park.
Heaney sparked a three-run rally in the second, slicing a single the other way into left field against Giants starter Alex Wood for his third career base hit.
“I was talking to [hitting coach Jeremy Reed] this past week and saying, ‘All I’m going to try to do is hit a single over the shortstop’s head. That’s all I can do,’” Heaney said, later laughing at the fact his most recent previous hit in 2018 had also come off Wood.
“When you only have two hits [entering the game] in the big-leagues, you don’t forget. You gotta remind everybody that it’s happened.”
After David Fletcher and Justin Upton walked in the next two at-bats to load the bases, Heaney scored on a wild pitch, sliding feet-first across the plate to put the Angels (25-30) on the board.
Anthony Rendon extended the lead later in the inning, roping a two-run single into center to snap an 0-for-10 skid.
In a five-run fourth inning, Heaney and Rendon were in the middle of the action again.
First, Taylor Ward got hit by a pitch and Max Stassi, playing his first game since May 4 after returning from a concussion, drove him home with a double off the wall in right. Heaney came up next, keeping the threat alive by drawing a full-count walk to put two runners on.
Heaney was forced out at second on a fielder’s choice in the next at-bat, but watched from the dugout as Upton walked to load the bases and, after the Giants (34-21) made a pitching change, pinch-hitter Kean Wong drew a run-scoring free pass to make it 5-0.
That brought Rendon back to the plate, lacing a first-pitch slider into the left-field corner to score all three runners. He finished the night with three hits and a season-high five RBIs.
“I think that’s something for him to build off of,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said.
Heaney cruised the rest of the way. In what matched his second-longest start of the season, he relied heavily on his fastball, throwing it 73% of the time in his 89-pitch outing. He pounded the zone, throwing 61 strikes and walking just one batter. And then there were his exploits with the bat, key contributions on a night Ohtani didn’t play with no available designated hitter.
“He had a couple really good at-bats,” Maddon said. “And then the rest of the group just fed off one another really well.”
The only concerning moment for the Angels came in the bottom of the fourth, when Upton exited the game after colliding with Wong on a pop up in the outfield. However, Maddon said Upton only had some soreness on the side of his leg and believes he will be “just fine.”
The Angels have now won six of their last nine and, after dropping the first two games of their six-game trip to the Bay Area this week, managed to go .500 in their two series against Oakland Athletics and Giants — both of whom are leading their divisions.
“You have to give our guys and our coaches a lot of credit for that,” Maddon said. “That was pretty impressive.”
Mike Trout out of a walking boot, and other Angels injury updates
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Trout is still likely at least a month away from returning from his Grade 2 calf strain. But, the Angels said the star center fielder is no longer using a walking boot, marking a positive step in what is expected to be one of the longest injury rehab processes of his major-league career.
“I think it’s a mental adhesion, the fact that it’s off,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “He’s probably going to feel a bit better about himself, that he’s going to be able to move around a bit more freely. I think that’s the first step.”
The exact timetable for Trout’s return is still to be determined. After injuring his calf while running the bases on May 17, Trout was initially expected to be out six-to-eight weeks.
“I don’t know what the exact process looks like, but he’s motivated to get back,” Maddon said. “So whatever the minimal time is, I think he’ll attempt to attack it in that way.”
Chris Rodriguez nearing return
Right-handed pitcher Chris Rodriguez had his second rehab outing with Triple-A Salt Lake on Monday, pitching two innings as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
“His velocity was up, breaking ball felt very good and he felt upbeat and positive after he was done,” Maddon said. “So we’re looking to get him back relatively quick. He’s on the verge of getting back up here.”
Maddon wasn’t sure if Rodriguez would need another rehab appearance, but said “I don’t think it would be a reach” for Rodriguez to return during the Angels’ four-game series against the Seattle Mariners this weekend.
Rodriguez last pitched for the Angels on May 5 before going on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. In eight MLB appearances this season, the 22-year-old rookie reliever has a 2.30 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings.
Other updates
Maddon said “there is a shot” shortstop José Iglesias (hamstring strain) could be ready to be reinstated from the injured list once he’s eligible on Saturday ... The team still doesn’t have a final diagnosis on starter José Quintana’s shoulder injury. Maddon said Quintana, who was placed on the injured list Sunday with what was described as shoulder inflammation, is set to undergo an MRI.
Angels vs. Giants betting odds for Tuesday night
The Angels are the only team in the Pacific time zone without a winning record and will look to make strides toward changing that Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants.
Giants starter Alex Wood got touched up in his two starts against his former team the Dodgers, allowing six runs across two starts. But in games against other teams, he has a 1.75 ERA and the Giants are 5-1 in those starts.
The Angels have not had that kind of success in Andrew Heaney’s starts. The team is 1-5 in his last six starts, with Heaney giving up at least three runs in four of his past five starts and serving up eight home runs across 24 innings in that span.
Though the Angels bullpen had a good weekend in Oakland, in the past 30 days they still lead the league in home runs allowed per nine innings with 1.9 and the Angels are the lone MLB team with a collective ERA above 5.00.
The Giants own the league’s best run line record at 36-18 and are 15-7 straight up at home. They have scored at least five runs in seven of their last eight games, while the Angels have played each of their last five games under the total.
Angels catcher Max Stassi returns from IL, will start Tuesday against Giants
SAN FRANCISCO — Had his body rolled a few feet the other way, maybe Max Stassi wouldn’t have missed the last month.
But for an Angels team that has battled freak injuries throughout the season, Stassi suffered one of the strangest.
On May 4, the Angels catcher was trying to track a pop up in foul ground at Angel Stadium when he went crashing head-first into the netting behind the plate, his body getting stuck as his head collided with a padded pole.
“I don’t think it would have been nearly as bad if I would have hit it and rolled off,” Stassi said. “But all my momentum just carried me right into there. It was weird.”
The result was a concussion that Stassi is only now fully recovered from, set to return to the Angels lineup Tuesday after being reinstated from the injured list earlier in the afternoon.
Stassi, 30, said he battled headaches and fatigue following the injury. The collision caused pain in his neck and upper back, too. The team even sent him to a specialist in Utah to make sure he hadn’t suffered something more serious.
“Concussions are a scary thing,” Stassi said. “You want to make sure you get those taken care of.”
But after going four-for-13 with two doubles and two RBI during a rehab stint with Triple-A Salt Lake last week, Stassi said he felt “amazing” physically entering Tuesday’s game.
The concussion was Stassi’s second time going on the injured list this season, limiting him to just 29 at-bats through the first two months.
He’s had plenty of company on the IL, joined at various points by third baseman Anthony Rendon, shortstop José Iglesias, outfielder Juan Lagares, pitchers Alex Cobb and Chris Rodriguez, and most recently star center fielder Mike Trout.
“A lot of it is luck,” Stassi said of the team’s early injury problems. “It’s been wild with the freak injuries.”
In a corresponding move Tuesday, the Angels optioned left-handed reliever José Quijada. The team also announced that catcher Drew Butera, who was designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and had been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Here’s the Angels full lineup Tuesday:
Dylan Bundy gives up three home runs in Angels’ 6-1 loss to Giants
SAN FRANCISCO — Dylan Bundy threw one two-seamer over the right half of the plate, another over the left half, and a slider straight down the middle.
All three had the same result, flying out of the park in what was another poor display from the Angels’ opening day starter, and another sound defeat for a ball club that became just the eighth in the majors to reach 30 losses this season.
The San Francisco Giants beat the Angels 6-1 on Monday, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why.
“He was bitten by the homer, no question,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said of Bundy. “That was the difference in the game.”
Bundy gave up three home runs in the Memorial Day matinee: a two-run blast to Evan Longoria in the fourth, and solo shots to LaMonte Wade Jr. in the fifth and Mauricio Dubón in the sixth.
After the Angels built an early lead, the bullpen tossed six scoreless innings to win second-straight game.
“You got to throw everything on the edges [of the strike zone] nowadays,” Bundy said. “None of them were where I wanted them.”
After giving up just five home runs in his 11 starts last season, Bundy has now yielded a dozen in 10 starts this year — including seven in his past three outings.
He finished the month of May with a 9.70 ERA in five starts, the Angels (24-30) losing in four of the five games. On the season, he is now 0-6 with a 6.49 ERA.
“That’s four or five starts in a row now,” said Bundy, who also walked two batters and struck out five in 5 2/3 innings. “It’s not good. It’s embarrassing on my part.”
After emerging as the Angels’ most reliable starting pitcher last year, Bundy was supposed to be the closest thing this season they had to an ace.
Monday was exactly the kind of game they needed him to act like one too.
Mike Trout is still weeks away from returning. Anthony Rendon went zero-for-four, concluding his own poor month of May with a .211 batting average and .638 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. And Shohei Ohtani was left out of the lineup in a National League game with no designated hitter available.
There was an opportunity in the sixth inning, when Bundy was removed after the home run to Dubón, for Ohtani to be double-switched into the game as an outfielder. But Maddon instead opted to insert Juan Lagares and save Ohtani for a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth, when he drew a walk and ended the game stranded at third base.
The Angels mustered their lone run in the second inning after Jared Walsh doubled, advanced to third on a bunt, and scored on a ground ball fielder’s choice.
Highlights from the Angels’ 6-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Monday.
But other than that, right-hander Johnny Cueto shined in a seven-inning, one-run, five-strikeout display for the National League West-leading Giants (34-20), who tacked on two more runs against Angels relievers Hunter Strickland and José Quijada in the seventh inning.
Bundy failed to do the same.
“He can set the tone for the entire staff,” Maddon said. “He did it before, did it earlier this year and I still believe it’s in there. He’s not hurting right now. I thought overall the stuff was better today. But I don’t know until I look at the review exactly where the mistakes were.”
Betting lines and odds for Angels vs. Giants on Monday
After winning the last two games of their series at the Oakland A’s, the Angels stay in the Bay Area to face the San Francisco Giants during a two-game series starting Monday at 1:05 p.m.
The Giants are on a three-game win streak after sweeping the last three games of their four-game series against the Dodgers to move within half a game of the San Diego Padres in the NL West and atop the NL wild-card race.
The Giants opened around -130 at most Las Vegas books Sunday and have been bet up to -150 (implied win percentage of 60%) at most books as of 10 a.m. Monday.
Dylan Bundy (0-5, 6.50 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) takes the mound for the Angels. He’s been knocked around (15.83 ERA in his last three starts), but he’s also had some bad luck as his WHIP isn’t that much worse than Giants starter Johnny Cueto (3-1, 3.86 ERA, 1.34 WHIP), who has a much better win-loss record. More encouraging news for Angels fans is that Cueto has also struggled lately (6.23 ERA in his last four starts).
The over/under is set at eight runs, which seems a little low considering the starting pitchers’ recent form. The Giants are ninth in MLB with 4.81 runs per game while the Angels, despite their losing record, are 13th with 4.49 runs per game.
Shohei Ohtani won’t start in San Francisco without DH, but could he play in the outfield?
SAN FRANCISCO — Angels manager Joe Maddon chuckled when asked if he considered starting Shohei Ohtani in the outfield for this week’s two-game National League series against the San Francisco Giants.
“I had the urge,” Maddon said.
But with no designated hitter, and Ohtani having only limited outfield experience so far this season, Maddon decided against it, instead putting Ohtani on the bench for Monday’s series opener.
“He’s eager to do it. This is not like, we have to convince him,” Maddon said. “It’s just one of those things where you’re not sure.”
Earlier this week, Maddon said playing Ohtani for a full game in the outfield — especially at a venue such as Oracle Park with unusual outfield dimensions — would be too far outside the team’s current comfort zone with the two-way star.
Instead, Ohtani will be available as a pinch-hitter and could even enter the game in the outfield for a couple innings in order to get multiple at-bats, though Maddon said the latter scenario would likely only happen if the Angels were trailing.
“I’m looking at different potential pinch-hitting spots for him, and then the potential to double-switch him into the game,” Maddon said, adding: “If we were leading, I probably would leave it alone ... You’re always concerned about him and how important he is. You don’t want to put him in a situation that compromises him in anyway.”
Entering Monday, Ohtani has played in 52 of the Angels’ first 53 games either as a pitcher (he has a 2.72 ERA in seven starts) or hitter (he has a .924 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and 15 home runs).
Four times, Ohtani has been placed in the outfield — once as part of a late-game defensive shuffle when the Angels were getting blown out, the other three as a way to give Ohtani an extra at-bat at the plate late in a game —but never for more than two innings at a time.
“We’ll see how it plays out [today],” Maddon said. “I don’t have anything preplanned or ordained to, ‘At this moment we’re going to get him in the game.’ He’ll be ready and then we’ll try to pop it at the right time.”
The Angels might not have to worry about this during their next National League series June 11-13 in Arizona. Ohtani will pitch next on Friday against the Seattle Mariners — potentially lining him up to take the mound again against the Diamondbacks when he could simply hit for himself in the lineup.
But until then, the Angels will have to do a balancing act during their two games in San Francisco.
“I want to believe as we go along, as this gets deeper into our dealing with Shohei and feeling more comfortable, you’re going to see that eventually,” Maddon said. “But it’s not quite the time right now.”
Angels place José Quintana on 10-day injured list with shoulder inflammation; Max Stassi nearing return
SAN FRANCISCO — The Angels placed starting pitcher José Quintana on the 10-day injured list Monday with left shoulder inflammation.
Reliever José Quijada was recalled in a corresponding move.
Quintana left his start on Sunday after only three innings and 75 pitches after feeling discomfort in his shoulder. He said it began during the first inning, got progressively worse as the game went on, and was particularly bothersome when he would throw breaking pitches.
Angels manager Joe Maddon said the team doesn’t have a final timetable yet for Quintana, and that the left-hander will undergo further evaluation in the coming days.
Patrick Sandoval will likely fill the open rotation spot in Quintana’s absence.
“This is a tough guy right here, so we’ll get it all checked out and then get a final diagnosis,” Maddon said.
Quintana is in his first season with the Angels after signing a one-year, $8 million contract this offseason. In nine starts, he has a 7.22 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 26 walks in 33 2/3 innings.
In other roster news Monday: Maddon said catcher Max Stassi is “doing really well” after making three rehab appearances with Triple-A Salt Lake over the last week. Maddon didn’t say exactly when Stassi, who has been out since May 4 with a concussion, could return to MLB action, but it could be any day.
“We’re looking to get him back,” Maddon said. “He’s ready to go.”