The Angels, who have been called out on strikes an MLB-high 116 times this season, looked at seven third strikes among their 13 strikeouts in a 4-2 defeat on Friday.
ANAHEIM — Despite all of the encouraging numbers produced by the Angels, there is at least one troubling number that was highlighted during their 4-2 loss to the Oakland A’s on Friday night. The Angels have been called out on strikes 116 times, the most in the majors.
They looked at seven third strikes among their 13 strikeouts on Friday, on their way to a fourth consecutive loss. Further adding to their issues, Taylor Ward left the game after running into the right field fence making a catch in the ninth inning. Ward was still being evaluated after the game, and the Angels said there would be no updates on his condition until Saturday. Before he left the game, Ward was one of the few players who didn’t get called out on strikes. They were called out six times in a span of three innings. In the sixth, Sam Moll got Brandon Marsh and Chad Wallach both looking at sliders over the middle of the plate. In the seventh, right-hander Zach Jackson got Mike Trout on a slider over the outside corner and then he got Shohei Ohtani on a thigh-high slider over the middle. Left-hander A.J. Puk got Anthony Rendon looking at a slider on the inside corner for the third strike to lead off the eighth. He then got Jared Walsh looking at a fastball over the outside corner. “We just have to be a little bit more assertive in the strike zone,” Manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s something that we’ve emphasized from the beginning of the year, and we just have to do a better job of that. The prep is great. The work is outstanding. It’s just up to us to make the adjustment.”“We’ve just got to really do better offensively against them,” Maddon said. “We pitched well, and they pitched well. Bleeding into last year, a lot of our issues with them were that we did not hit them. That’s the primary issue we have playing that team.” In the first, Rendon poked a two-out RBI single into right to drive in a run. Rendon, who also doubled, has been heating up, with a 1.124 OPS in his last 32 plate appearances. In the third, the team’s two hottest hitters collaborated on a run. Ward led off with a double and then Trout followed with a double, putting the Angels ahead, 2-1.Related Articles
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