Hector Santiago falters during rough outing in Angels’ loss to Rangers

Hector Santiago did not take the loss Saturday night, keeping his record at a respectable 7-4. His ERA even stayed relatively steady at 2.43, good for fifth in the AL.

But there was no doubt the All-Star was off his game, struggling through five innings, surrendering four runs, three earned, on five hits and three walks, while striking out just four in the Angels’ 7-6 loss to the Rangers.

“Hector didn’t look as crisp from the get-go,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It looked like he was trying to force it a little to get his velocity, and his command wasn’t quite there. He still battled.”

The tough outing snaps a season-long stretch of dominance over the Rangers for Santiago. In three previous starts, he was 2-0 with a 0.93 ERA.

Since the All-Star break, however, he has not been quite as overpowering as he was earlier in the year. In two starts, he has gone 10 innings, the fewest of any back-to-back starts for him this season. Over those 10 frames, he has allowed 15 hits.

The four total runs on Saturday are more than he gave up in his four previous starts combined, and his three walks were the most he has allowed since May 29, according to Baseball Reference.

“My fastball wasn’t as good as it’s been. The breaking ball was there. The changeup was really inconsistent,” Santiago said. “But overall it wasn’t that bad. It looked worse than it actually was.”

He did suffer an unearned run courtesy of a rare throwing error by Albert Pujols. With one man out and runners on first and second in the top of the fifth, Pujols fielded a ground ball from Elvis Andrus, then threw to Erick Aybar at second trying to get the force out. Instead, he buried it in the dirt, all runners were safe, and the man on second raced home.

Santiago, one of the most prolific fly-ball pitchers in the majors, ended up with seven ground outs to three fly outs, and was also hit hard all night, giving up five hits in the air, including a first-inning home run to Rougned Odor, who sent a sinker five or six rows deep into the left field bleachers. Odor’s long ball snapped a 29-inning homerless streak for Santiago.

“Yeah, it was a bad pitch. I missed my spot completely. It was supposed to be down and away and it was up and in,” Santiago said. “I was just trying to get him to pop it up somewhere, and he popped it up over the gate.”

Santiago was pitching on four days’ rest after Monday’s doubleheader against the Red Sox, when he struck out 10. On four days’ rest, he is 2-2 this season with a 2.85 ERA, compared with 4-1 and a 1.95 ERA with five days off.

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