Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (16) stands in the dugout during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Angels’ Moises Ballesteros grounds into a double play but Wade Meckler scored during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Angels, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Angels, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Philadelphia Phillies’ Edmundo Sosa rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Angels, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Angels’ Christian Moore (4), left, slides into second base as Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner (7), right, reaches to tag him during the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, right, runs home after Luis Arraez (not shown) hit a sacrifice fly during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Angels, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper (3) slides into second base as Angels second baseman Christian Moore (4) reaches to tag him during the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper, front right, slides into second base as Angels second baseman Christian Moore, back right, reaches to tag him during the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Show Caption
1 of 10
Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (16) stands in the dugout during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
ANAHEIM — The Angels continue to play the same game, over and over, like a recurring nightmare.
Their starting pitching has been outstanding lately, but the hitters and the bullpen have faltered.
The Angels lost, 5-2, to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, dropping their seventh straight game.
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi gave up two runs in seven innings, leaving with a one-run deficit that relievers Sammy Peralta and José Fermin inflated to three runs by giving up two runs in the eighth.
The Angels have hit .195 with a .593 OPS during the losing streak. They’ve scored 21 runs. Since the All-Star break, they’ve hit .218 with a .611 OPS. Both are the worst in the majors.
Angels starting pitchers have a 2.40 ERA during the losing streak, and a major-league best 2.57 ERA in August.
Asking manager Kurt Suzuki about the anemic offense has become a daily ritual, and he’s been unable to provide many answers as to what they can do about it. The roster is clearly undermanned, and on Sunday they also played without their best hitter, because Suzuki gave Zach Neto the day off. He didn’t even use him to pinch-hit as the potential tying run in the eighth, even though Neto was ready to hit.
“I think if you’ve played this game before, you understand when you need a blow, you need a blow this part of the season,” Suzuki said of the 25-year-old Neto. “We decided to give him a blow. That’s the way I want to look at it.”
Without Neto, the Angels (52-85) didn’t muster much of anything. They had eight hits. In the bottom of the eighth, Moisés Ballesteros and Christian Moore singled against Phillies lefty José Alvarado, with the left-handed hitting Josh Lowe due next. That would have been the spot to use the right-handed Neto. Lowe struck out and José Siri grounded out.
By the time the Angels got another chance in the ninth, left-hander Mitch Farris had given up another run, to put the game even further out of reach.
A Trout RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth cut the final deficit to three runs.
The game began ominously for the Angels when they blew an opportunity at a big inning against Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler.
Wade Meckler led off the game with a walk. Trout was hit by a pitch. Vaughn Grissom then blooped a single into left, loading the bases. Ballesteros hit a slow roller up the middle, and the Phillies converted an easy double play, with one run scoring. Moore then struck out.
“That was tough,” Suzuki said. “Obviously we’d like to put more runs on the board in the first, but the main thing is we got one. We got the lead. It would have been nice to add on, but sometimes that’s the way it goes.”
Meckler led off the third with a double, but the Angels didn’t even get him to third, let alone get him home. In the sixth, they drew a pair of two-out walks before Siri struck out. In the seventh, Oswald Peraza led off with a walk. The Angels bunted him into scoring position, but Meckler struck out and Trout grounded out weakly.
While the Angels were making a string of routine outs, Kikuchi did his best to keep them in the game.
In his second start after missing nearly four months with a shoulder injury, Kikuchi was significantly improved. He gave up five runs in five innings last week.
This time, the only runs he allowed in seven innings were solo homers from J.T. Realmuto in the third and Edmundo Sosa in the seventh. Sosa hit a go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the ninth on Friday night.
Kikuchi struck out six and walked one, throwing 61 strikes among his 92 pitches.
As most Angels pitchers are doing these days, Kikuchi streamlined his repertoire. He threw 52 fastballs and 23 sliders, with the other 17 pitches split among his curve, splitter and cutter.
“I think my fastball was really good today, especially the fastball command,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “I was able to pinpoint it north, south, east, west, wherever I wanted. So I think those setup pitches brought in the result we saw.”
One of the few splitters he threw, however, was a hanger that Sosa hit to put the Phillies on top in the seventh.
“The splitter command was a little bit high,” Kikuchi said. “I knew he hit a home run off a splitter two days ago. In that situation, I should have maybe thrown a little bit lower, but that’s a part of the game.”
Once Kikuchi gave up a second run, meaning the Angels would need at least three to win, it wasn’t looking good. Afterward, Suzuki chose not to harp on the offense’s struggle.
“We come here to win every single day,” he said. “Obviously, there’s frustration, whatever you want to call it, but at the end of the day, the pitching has been really good. We’ve been in every single game pretty much and had a chance to win every game. You try to look at the positives going forward. Obviously you try to get better on the stuff that you need to get better at, but you want to look at the positives. If you become too negative sometimes, it’s not going to help.”