Angels fall to Chicago White Sox, 4-2, as pitching issues add up

CHICAGO — Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto seemed to work some magic in early May when he fortified a sagging bullpen by trading for Ernesto Frieri, a virtual unknown middle reliever in San Diego who emerged as a nearly untouchable closer in Anaheim.

Dipoto is probably looking up his sleeve or inside his hat to find the next Frieri, or maybe he can create a puff of smoke and make injured relievers Scott Downs and Jordan Walden reappear, because the struggles of a thin Angels relief corps have reached crisis levels.

Veteran right-hander Jason Isringhausen, summoned to protect a one-run lead in the seventh inning Sunday, surrendered a pinch-hit, two-run home run to A.J. Pierzynski, the decisive blow in the Chicago White Sox’s 4-2 victory over the Angels inU.S. Cellular Field.

In the last seven games, at Texas and Chicago, Angels relievers have given up 23 earned runs and 33 hits, seven of them homers, in 211/3 innings for a 9.70 earned-run average, suffering four losses and three blown saves. Since the All-Star break, the bullpen has a 6.02 ERA in 23 games.

And there is little relief in sight. The left-handed Downs (shoulder strain) and the hard-throwing Walden (nerve problem in neck) are not expected back for at least a week — in Downs’ case, probably two — and deals for quality relievers are tougher to pull off after the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline.

“It’s the last two months, we’ve got to buckle down and get some wins,” said Isringhausen, one of the team’s more reliable relievers since the break. “We’ve let a couple of games slip away on this trip. We’ve got to get better.”

So do the starting pitchers, who have taxed the bullpen with their inability — with the exception of ace Jered Weaver — to pitch deep into games.

Through June 27, the rotation had a 3.49 ERA and averaged 61/3 innings a start. In 34 games since, the rotation has a 5.41 ERA and has averaged 52/3 innings.

“The difference between 17 outs and 20 outs does not sound like a lot,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “But it is a lot when it’s happening on an everyday basis.”

Especially when, because of injuries, the Angels go to relievers such as David Carpenter and Hisanori Takahashi in the sixth inning of close games and Isringhausen and LaTroy Hawkins, who were pitching many of those sixth and seventh innings, are pushed back to the seventh or eighth.

“It’s the trickle-down effect,” said Dan Haren, who gave up one run and four hits in six innings Sunday. “Our starters haven’t gotten that deep into games. If we get into the seventh inning and shorten the game, it’s big for the bullpen. We’ve been leaving a lot of outs for them. They’re pretty worn down.”

Haren pitched well but needed 112 pitches to get through six innings, and with the right-hander battling soreness in his right side and admitting to being “a little fatigued,” Scioscia went to his bullpen after Torii Hunter’s two-out run-scoring single in the top of the seventh gave the Angels a 2-1 lead.

But Isringhausen gave up a single to Dayan Viciedo and fell behind, 2-and-0, on Pierzynski before grooving a fastball that Pierzynski belted over the right-center field wall for his fifth homer in five games and a 3-2 White Sox lead. Chicago added a run on Alexei Ramirez’s run-scoring triple against Jerome Williams in the eighth.

“It’s Pitching 101,” Isringhausen, 39, said. “I was falling behind everybody and had to come in with fastballs for strikes.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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