Follow our live updates throughout the Angels’ series in Boston against the Red Sox. You can expect news, notes and analysis in real-time before, during and after the game.
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Shohei Ohtani’s ninth-inning home run helps Angels snap four-game skid
In his four MLB seasons, Shohei Ohtani has hit 59 home runs. But none felt quite as big as his go-ahead blast on Sunday, a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth that turned a one-run Angels deficit into an eventual 6-5 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Did Ohtani think it was the biggest of his major-league career?
“I would say so,” he said through his interpreter.
It was Ohtani’s 12th home run of the season, tied for the most in the majors, and his first go-ahead blast in the ninth inning or later with the Angels.
It was the Angels’ first go-ahead home run when down to their last out since 2013, when Hank Conger hit one at Milwaukee.
And it provided perhaps the biggest sigh of relief yet for a team that has struggled for the last month, preventing them from getting swept at Fenway Park.
“Coming off a losing streak – and the first two games of the series we lost weren’t good ways to lose – it was huge for us as a team to come up with this win,” Ohtani said. “I think it shows we can beat any team and get things rolling.”
When Ohtani hit the pitch, a high fly ball that was hooking toward the right-field foul pole, only one thing was going through his head.
“I was looking up at the ball and praying it would stay fair,” he said. “That’s all I was thinking after I hit the ball.”
It did, lifting the Angels to their first win in five games.
“It takes a bloop and a blast,” said Angels manager Joe Maddon, referring to Ohtani’s home run and the bloop single Mike Trout had hit the prior at-bat. “You say that all the time in the dugout, and that’s exactly what occurred. Loved the fight.”
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Final: Angels win 6-5
Here are live updates from Sunday’s Angels-Red Sox game...
No score, end 1st: Both starting pitchers got off to almost identically strong starts. After Nathan Eovaldi struck out the first two Angels he faced en route to a 1-2-3 inning, José Quintana did the same, getting whiffs on two fastballs to retire the Red Sox in order their first time up.
4-0 Angels, top 2nd: The Angels strike first. After an Anthony Rendon HBP and Jared Walsh double to lead off the second, Taylor Ward slapped an RBI single into right. Two batters later, Phil Gosselin sliced an RBI double into shallow right to score another. Gosselin is now batting .323 in 11 games this season.
Drew Butera doubled the lead in the next at-bat, battling back from an 0-2 count before golfing a two-run single into shallow left.
4-1 Angels, bot 3rd: After cruising through the first two innings, José Quintana ran into trouble in the third. After back-to-back singles from Marwin Gonzalez and Kevin Plawecki led off the inning, Jonathan Araúz pulled a changeup over the plate into left for an RBI double.
Quintana responded, however, limiting the damage at just one run by striking out Michael Chavis and Rafael Davers before getting an inning-ending pop out from J.D. Martinez.
4-1 Angels, mid 5th: The Angels threatened again in the fifth. After Shohei Ohtani reached on an error, Jared Walsh hit a double off the Green Monster. However, Ohtani tried scoring all the way from first but was thrown out easily at the plate.
4-2 Angels, bot 5th: The Red Sox drew a little closer with a long solo home run by Kevin Plawecki over the Green Monster. Then, after an infield single by Jonathan Araúz, Angels manager Joe Maddon made a surprising pitching change. José Quintana came out after only 74 pitches. Aaron Slegers entered with one out in the fifth.
5-4 Red Sox, bot 5th: The pitching change did not work. Slegers got a groundball on his first at-bat, but it snuck through the infield for a single. Then, in an 0-2 count to Rafael Devers, he left a fastball over the heart of the plate that Devers clobbered for a go-ahead three-run home run.
5-4 Red Sox, mid 7th: The Angels’ reconfigured top three in the batting order hasn’t produced much today. The trio went down in order in the seventh and is now a combined 0-for-11 with a lone walk.
5-4 Red Sox, end 7th: Hunter Strickland made his Angels debut, striking out a pair of batters before being reliever by Tony Watson, who ended the inning with a groundout against Rafael Devers in a lefty-lefty matchup. Strickland topped out at 96 mph with his fastball.
5-4 Red Sox, mid 8th: After a single from Jared Walsh, walk from Taylor Ward and flyout from José Iglesias, the Angels had runners on the corners with two outs. With Phil Gosselin coming to the plate, the Red Sox summoned closer Matt Barnes. The move worked. Gosselin struck out, the runners were stranded, and the Red Sox’s lead remains intact.
5-4 Red Sox, end 8th: Angels closer Raisel Iglesias pitched in the bottom of the eighth, coming for a non-save situation after having gone five days without game action. He retired the side in order.
6-5 Angels, top 9th: The Angels rallied to take the lead. First, Mike Trout somehow got a bloop pop up to drop between three Red Sox defenders in shallow right field. Then, with the Angels down to their final out, Shohei Ohtani gave the Angels the lead, pulling a go-ahead two-run home run inside the right-field foul pole — the Angels’ first go-ahead home run when down to their last out since Hank Conger did it on Aug. 31, 2013 at Milwaukee.
Final, Angels win 6-5: Mike Mayers came on in the ninth and closed out the game, stranding a couple walks to earn his second save of the season. The Angels are 17-22 and snap a four-game losing streak.
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New-look lineup: Jose Rojas leads off, Mike Trout bats second, Shohei Ohtani moves to three-hole
With the Angels in the midst of a week-long offensive slump (12 runs and a .183 batting average their past six games), Joe Maddon shook up the lineup for Sunday’s finale.
Jose Rojas will bat leadoff, playing second base in place of David Fletcher (who is out with a hip injury). Mike Trout will be bumped up to the two-hole. And Shohei Ohtani will slot in third.
“We’ve been having a little bit of an issue scoring runs lately, so these are little micro changes that we’ll see if it does have an impact,” Maddon said.
Phil Gosselin will also move to left field, with Justin Upton getting a day off.
Here is the full lineup:
Jose Rojas (2B), Mike Trout (CF), Shohei Ohtani (DH), Anthony Rendon (3B), Jared Walsh (1B), Taylor Ward (RF), José Iglesias (SS), Phil Gosselin (LF), Drew Butera (C)
With Fletcher, who in a slump even before going out of the lineup with his injury, out of the leadoff spot, Maddon said Rojas and Ward could split time moving forward at the top of the lineup.
Maddon was also asked if he would consider Trout at leadoff, a spot in which the three-time MVP has started only five times since 2013.
“I can’t say I would not,” Maddon answered. “Right now, the Rojas/Ward combo, I kind of like it, we’ll see how it plays out. But I would not discount [Trout batting leadoff]. That’s been my ace in the hole for years, is a really good hitter on your team that may be struggling a bit.
“I’ve always felt if you have a really good strong player, pop him up at the top, give him a different outlook on life. Have him go up there and think singles up the middle. Don’t think power. That’ll just happen naturally. And go out there and set the table for everybody else. I’ve had that with others. Right now I like the options of [Ward and Rojas] ... but I would just blanketly say right now I would not consider Michael at the leadoff. I would.”
The Angels also announced pregame that newly acquired right-handed relief pitcher Hunter Strickland has been added to the active roster. Reliever Noé Ramirez was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
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Angels trying to avoid the sweep after Saturday blowout
A team many predicted to win the American League West is a mess right now, Saturday’s 9-0 thrashing at the hands of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park sending the Angels to their fourth straight loss and 10th in 13 games. At 16-22, they’re in last place, 6½ games behind first-place Oakland.
Dylan Bundy, the team’s “ace” entering the season, was rocked for seven runs and eight hits in four innings, including Alex Verdugo’s first-inning solo homer and Xander Bogaerts’ 446-foot three-run shot in the fourth, to fall to 0-5 with a 6.02 earned-run average in eight starts.
Mike Trout, the three-time AL most valuable player, is mired in a three-for-27 slump. Leadoff man David Fletcher, who hit .319 with a .376 on-base-percentage in 2020, is struggling so badly — he’s zero for 17 in four games and batting .250 with a .271 OBP — that he was dropped to the ninth spot Saturday.
A lineup that thins out considerably after Shohei Ohtani, Trout, Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh has scored 12 runs and hit .183 with 11 extra-base hits, 59 strikeouts and 18 walks in the last six games.
The rotation has a major league-worst 5.36 ERA. The bullpen ranks 27th with a 5.29 ERA and has converted eight of 16 save opportunities. The defense has made a major league-worst 33 errors.
Apparently, Albert Pujols wasn’t the problem.
“We’re just going through a rough stretch right now, but it’s a long season,” Trout said. “We’ll turn it around.”
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Final from Boston: Red Sox 9, Angels 0
Dylan Bundy was roughed up for seven earned runs and eight hits in four innings, and the Angels offense was unable to put a dent Boston Red Sox left-hander Martin Perez in a 9-0 loss in Fenway Park on Saturday.
Perez gave up three hits, struck out five and walked four in six shutout innings to help send the Angels to their 10th loss in 13 games. Alex Verdugo hit a solo homer in the first, Xander Bogaerts crushed a 446-foot three-run homer in the fifth, and Rafael Devers hit a solo shot off reliever Noe Ramirez in the seventh.
Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero, the eighth and ninth batters in the Red Sox order, combined for four doubles and four RBIs.
Angels center Mike Trout walked twice, lined out to center field and popped out to first base in four plate appearances and is now three for 27 in his last nine games and hitless in his last 15 at-bats. David Fletcher, dropped from the leadoff spot to ninth, went 0 for four and is hitless in is last 17 at-bats.
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David Fletcher dropped from leadoff to ninth spot
Angels manager Joe Maddon dropped struggling second baseman David Fletcher from the leadoff spot to the ninth spot for Saturday’s 1 p.m. (PDT) game against the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park, where Angels right-hander Dylan Bundy will oppose Boston left-hander Martin Perez.
Fletcher is batting only .256 with a .278 on-base percentage and .282 slugging percentage and is hitless in 13 at-bats in his last three games. He hit .319 with a .376 on-base percentage and .425 slugging percentage last season.
Taylor Ward will replace Fletcher in the leadoff spot Saturday. The Angels, picked by many to win the American League West or compete for a wild-card spot, have lost nine of 12 games to fall to 16-21 and into last place in the division, 6 ½ games behind the first-place Oakland Athletics.
The Angels lineup:
RF Taylor Ward
DH Shohei Ohtani
CF Mike Trout
3B Anthony Rendon
SS Jose Iglesias
1B Phil Gosselin
LF Justin Upton
C Kurt Suzuki
2B David Fletcher
RHP Dylan Bundy
The Red Sox lineup:
2B Marwin Gonzalez
CF Alex Verdugo
DH J.D. Martinez
SS Xander Bogaerts
3B Rafael Devers
C Christian Vazquez
RF Hunter Renfroe
1B Bobby Dalbeck
LF Franchy Cordero
LHP Martin Perez
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Angels bolster bullpen with acquisition of Hunter Strickland from Rays
The Angels bolstered their sagging bullpen on Saturday by acquiring veteran right-hander Hunter Strickland from the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
Strickland, 32, had a 1.69 ERA in 13 games for the Rays this season, striking out 16 and walking six in 16 innings, and he was especially effective in his last eight games in which he gave up one earned run in 9 1/3 innings for an 0.96 ERA.
“We just saw him in Anaheim [in early May] and he was throwing the ball really well,” said Angels reliever Tony Watson, a San Francisco Giants teammate of Strickland in 2018.
“He has really good stuff, a really good arm. He’s an intense competitor with some back-end experience. He was the closer in San Francisco for a while and had some success. He’ll be a nice addition, for sure.”
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Strickland has a 16-16 record, 3.14 ERA and 249 strikeouts in 298 career appearances, 253 of them with the Giants, for whom he pitched in his first five big-league seasons (2014-2018).
He pitched for World Series-winning teams in San Francisco (2014) and Washington (2019) and was the closer for the Giants for parts of 2018, when he went 3-5 with a 3.97 ERA and 14 saves in 49 games.
Strickland is known to have a temper, having missed two months of 2018 because of a broken hand, an injury he suffered punching a door after a blown save.
He was also suspended for six games in 2017 after hitting Bryce Harper with a pitch—in retaliation for Harper’s admiration of a long homer he hit off Strickland in the 2014 playoffs—and exchanging punches with the then-Nationals slugger.
The following winter, the Washington Post reported, Strickland worked with a life coach and read several anger-management books.
“I think he’s gotten better over his career,” Watson said. “Everyone knows the stuff that’s happened in the past, in San Francisco. I think as I finished playing with him there, he was doing a much better job of channeling that [intensity] on the mound.
“And in talking to him in Anaheim, he seemed like he was in a really good place. He pitched twice against us, and the ball was exploding out of his hand. He’s a big physical presence, and he’s got great stuff.”
Strickland mixes a fastball that is averaging 94.6 mph with an 85-mp slider and an 89-mph split-fingered changeup. He is expected to assume a high-leverage role in an Angels bullpen that has a 7.35 ERA this month, ranks 27th with a 5.32 ERA on the season and has converted only eight of 16 save opportunities.
Strickland signed a minor league deal with the Rays in February and was called up after several Rays relievers were injured. The Rays have been carrying 14 pitchers and needed to clear a roster spot on Saturday for first baseman Ji-Man Choi. Strickland, who is out of options, was deemed the most expendable.
“Yeah, it is unusual,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said, when asked if he was surprised the team was able to get such a quality arm at this point of the season. “But then, he’s coming from the Rays, where they just keep printing them like counterfeit bills. They have all that pitching down there. That’s why he’s available.”
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Angels surrender late lead, fall to Red Sox for their third straight loss
It set up just as Angels manager Joe Maddon had hoped.
Starting pitcher Griffin Canning delivered six strong innings, an early two-run home run by Hunter Renfroe his only blemish on a seven-strikeout night against the Boston Red Sox.
The Angels’ offense had rallied to take a late lead, getting on the board thanks to Shohei Ohtani’s Green Monster-clearing solo shot in the sixth and José Iglesias’ go-ahead two-run double in the top of the seventh.
And Tony Watson was throwing some of his hardest fastballs of the season in the bottom of the seventh, a couple of outs away from passing the lead along to set-up man Mike Mayers and closer Raisel Iglesias.
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Final: Red Sox win 4-3
Here are live updates from Friday’s Angels-Red Sox game...
No score, end 1st: Shohei Ohtani doubled off the green monster in the first, but was stranded. Mike Trout went down looking. Anthony Rendon flied out to center. In the bottom half of the inning, Griffin Canning stranded a two-out single by J.D. Martinez.
2-0 Red Sox, end 2nd: Hunter Renfroe put the Red Sox on the board first, crushing a high fastball from Griffin Canning to straightaway center field for a two-run home run.
2-0 Red Sox, mid 4th: Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta is off to a strong start. Through four scoreless innings, he has given up just two hits, struck out six batters and issued no walks. He’s also only thrown 57 pitches.
2-0 Red Sox, end 4th: Griffin Canning escapes trouble in the fourth. Got a double-play (he started it himself) and strikeout after back-to-back singles. He’s up to 6 strikeouts, but is still waiting on some run support.
2-1 Red Sox, mid 6th: Shohei Ohtani put the Angels on the board with his first career home run against the Boston Red Sox, a solo shot over the Green Monster to cut the Red Sox’s lead in half.
3-2 Angels, mid 7th: For the first time in the game, the Angels took the lead on a two-run double from José Iglesias. The inning began with back-to-back singles by Anthony Rendon (who hit a fly ball high off the Green Monster) and Jared Walsh, then a fly ball from Justin Upton that advanced them both. Iglesias is now batting .321 in his past 22 games.
4-3 Red Sox, end 7th: The Angels’ lead didn’t last for long. After Griffin Canning was removed to begin the seventh, reliever Tony Watson yielded a long two-run home run to Bobby Dalbec that allowed the Red Sox to retake the lead. Watson had only given up one run in his first 11 innings this season entering Friday.
4-3 Red Sox, mid 8th: The Angels went down in order in the eighth, with Red Sox reliever Adam Ottavino ending the inning on a called third strike against Mike Trout that appeared to be outside the zone. Trout shook his head at the call, but the Angels are down to their last three outs.
4-3 Red Sox, final: Matt Barnes struck out the side in the ninth inning to pick up his ninth save. The Angels (16-21) have lost three in a row.
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Shohei Ohtani to have next pitching start pushed back
Shohei Ohtani’s next pitching start was lined up to be Tuesday against the Cleveland Indians. However, Angels manager Joe Maddon announced Friday that Ohtani’s next outing will instead be pushed back to later next week in order to give the right-hander some extra rest.
Maddon said Ohtani won’t be skipped in the rotation but could be pushed back until as late as next Friday. The decision was not related to any injury.
“No blister, no nothing,” Maddon said of Ohtani, who has played in every game this season either as a pitcher or batter. “It’s just being proactive, attempting to take care of him and his best interests.”
Maddon said he noticed Ohtani looked “fatigued” while serving as the Angels’ designated hitter Wednesday, the day after he threw seven innings on the mound, took four at-bats at the plate and played the eighth inning in right field.
“That set off somewhat of a little bit of an alarm to me,” Maddon said. “So moving out to his next start, I thought it’d be wise ... just giving him time to recover.”
So far this season, Ohtani has taken his two-way role in stride. Entering Friday, he had a 2.10 ERA as a pitcher with 40 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings. As a batter, he was hitting .257 with an .877 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and 10 home runs, tied for third most in the majors.
“I’m just concerned about when he’s going so well offensively, that maybe if he might be fatigued a little bit that he’s going to still want to go out there,” Maddon said, adding: “You want to avoid any kind of fatigue situation that can compromise him in any way.”
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Betting lines and odds for Angels vs. Red Sox on Friday
The Angels enter their series with the Boston Red Sox looking to lower their-league worst 5.23 team ERA and get out of last place in the American League West.
The Angels are 3-1 in the last four games Griffin Canning has started, and he’ll be on the mound again Friday. He has given up two runs or fewer in four of his last five appearances despite a 5.19 ERA.
Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta leads MLB in walks with 22, but the Red Sox have gone 6-1 in his seven starts. He has a 3.19 ERA.
The Angels’ offense is 10th in MLB in runs per game with 4.56, but they are registering just 3.95 per game on the road while getting 5.24 runs per game at home. They rank last in the league in walks per at-bat.
The Red Sox are 11-11 straight up at home this season and are 11-5-1 to the under in their last 16 games. The Angels have given up four or more runs in 15 of their last 21 games and are 3-8 on the run line in their last 11 games.
VSiN, the Sports Betting Network, offers more expert sports betting content in a free daily email at VSiN.com/email.
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Anthony Rendon returns from IL, will bat cleanup Friday
Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon will return to the lineup Friday after missing the last 10 days with a knee contusion. Rendon was injured on May 3 after fouling a ball off his leg, but resumed baseball activities in the last week.
Rendon was reinstated from the injured list before Friday’s game and returns to his normal cleanup spot in the lineup. In a corresponding move, outfielder Jon Jay was designated for assignment.
This was Rendon’s second time on the injured list this season. In the 15 games he has played this season, the 30-year-old is batting .276 with an .814 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and three home runs. In his absence over the last week, Phil Gosselin had filled in at third base.
In other injury news, Maddon said catcher Max Stassi (concussion) is “not quite ready” to return to action.
Pitcher Alex Cobb (blister) threw under the guidance of pitching coach Matt Wise on Friday, but the team still has not decided when he will make his next start.
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José Iglesias confident Angels defense will improve, starting with himself
Angels shortstop José Iglesias lit up on Friday afternoon when asked why he loves his position.
“It’s fun,” Iglesias said. “I get opportunities to help the team. You get a lot of opportunities to be on ESPN, making Top-10 plays.”
During the spring and the early days of the regular season, Iglesias was doing just that: producing one highlight reel moment after another – over-the-shoulder catches in left, barehanded plays on the infield, throws to first from his back – for an Angels team that was banking on its defense to be a catalyst for success this season.
But since then, the group has struggled. And Iglesias has been at the forefront of the decline.
Entering Friday, the Angels were last in the majors with negative-30 defensive runs saved according to Sports Info Solutions, which rates individual players as above or below average on defense.
Catcher was the team’s worst defensive position, earning a score of negative-eight. But shortstop was second, with a negative-six mark that was tied for second-worst in baseball.
The starting shortstop in 32 of the Angels’ first 36 games, Iglesias has committed eight errors for a career-low .927 fielding percentage. Some have been out of his control, such as when he was slid into trying to turn a double-play against the Toronto Blue Jays or bouncing throws to first go unpicked by a teammate. But there have been several routine plays the 10-year veteran has missed, too.
“It’s just baseball,” Iglesias said. “It’s not going to be the last time I make an error. I hope I make so many more – it means I’m playing. I’m not concerned at all.”
On the whole, however, better defense could be critical for the Angels moving forward. It’s one reason the team’s strong underlying pitching metrics haven’t produced better results (the Angels had the highest ERA, 5.23, entering Friday). And it’s something manager Joe Maddon said this week the coaching staff is evaluating.
“We’re trying to make some adaptations on defense if we need to, to cover it up a little bit,” Maddon said, adding: “It would be something that’s probably not very obvious. That very laser thin difference between a positive for you a negative … micro kind of adjustments that might be helpful.”
Maddon has repeatedly mentioned the absence of third baseman Anthony Rendon and catcher Max Stassi as a key factor in the team’s overall defensive struggles. But individual improvements from players such as Iglesias, who had the second-best fielding percentage (.985) among all MLB shortstops between 2013 and 2020, will be important as well.
“Our defense has not been our best thing this year, starting from me,” Iglesias said. “We got to play better … We’re gonna work harder to play better as a team, and I’m going to make sure that I’m leading the way.”