ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Angels got their first look at Rays speedster Chandler Simpson this weekend, and it was exactly as advertised.<\/p>\n
Simpson, considered the fastest player in the majors, forces mistakes.<\/p>\n
He hit a routine grounder that should have been a double play, and instead the Angels didn\u2019t get any outs, leading to two critical runs in their 5-2 loss to the Rays on Sunday.<\/p>\n
In Friday\u2019s game, the Angels made an error on a Simpson grounder that opened the door for a three-run inning to become a seven-run inning, and the Angels lost by three.<\/p>\n
The Angels trailed 3-2 in the seventh on Sunday, having done a nice job to hang around despite starter Jack Kochanowicz getting knocked out in the third inning.<\/p>\n
With a runner at first, Simpson hit a bouncer that shortstop Zach Neto fielded about 10 feet from the bag. Neto knew he had to rush to convert the double play. He ended up barely missing second with his foot and then throwing high to first.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur job is not to look at the baserunners, just to make the play,\u201d Neto said. \u201cI was trying to make too much of a play and missed the bag and didn\u2019t get an out. With these teams, especially good teams like this, you can\u2019t give them extra outs. We did and it cost us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Left-hander Drew Pomeranz eventually allowed both runners to score unearned runs, turning a one-run deficit into a three-run deficit.<\/p>\n
Plenty of other things went wrong for the Angels (23-37), starting with their pitchers walking nine hitters, two with the bases loaded. Kochanowicz issued four walks and didn\u2019t make it out of the third inning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started off the game feeling great and then just lost the rhythm,\u201d Kochanowicz said. \u201cNot really sure what it was or why I lost it, but I didn\u2019t make the adjustment I needed to, obviously. It\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kochanowicz walked the first two hitters in the third inning. That brought dangerous Junior Caminero to the plate. Kochanowicz made a good pitch, as Caminero topped a dribbler to third base. It was hit too slowly for the Angels to get an out, though, and the bases were loaded. He gave up a single to drive in one run and a walk pushed home another, ending his day.<\/p>\n
He has a 9.27 ERA in his last five starts, after posting a 3.05 mark in his first seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t like to see that, but at the same time, we feel like right now he\u2019s just got to keep working at it,\u201d manager Kurt Suzuki said. \u201cMaybe not trying to put so much pressure on himself to be so perfect, and get back to attack mode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season Kochanowicz had a 6.81 ERA that dropped him off the radar for many Angels fans. He said he\u2019s not back to that point with this year\u2019s struggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we just learn as we go,\u201d Kochanowicz said. \u201cIt\u2019s never a complete product. I\u2019m always working on stuff. But I feel like I have more tools than I did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite Kochanowicz\u2019s rough start, the Angels stayed in the game, thanks to left-hander Mitch Farris and left fielder Jos\u00e9 Siri. Farris followed Kochanowicz to the mound with the bases loaded in the third. Farris got a strikeout, and then Siri robbed Taylor Walls of a grand slam with a leap at the short left field fence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was huge,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cIt would have turned into 7-1, and that would have made it a lot tougher on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was still tough because the Angels weren\u2019t able to string together any kind of offense, despite generating nine hits and only striking out six times.<\/p>\n
Logan O\u2019Hoppe played a part in both runs, with a second-inning double setting up a run on a wild pitch. He also hit a homer in the seventh, his first since April 15.<\/p>\n
Neto just missed a two-run homer that would have given the Angels the lead in the seventh, with the ball dying at the warning track. With two on and one out in the top of the eighth, Jo Adell hit a line drive up the middle. Second baseman Richie Palacios was standing right there. He grabbed it and stepped on second for the double play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we got guys on, they hit the ball and it was either at the track or right at somebody,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cIt\u2019s just one of those days. I feel like the at-bats were good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Angels got their first look at Rays speedster Chandler Simpson this weekend, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[24227,3817,110,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-291192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}