José Suarez runs into trouble again as Angels blow another early lead in loss
Angels starting pitcher José Suarez was unable to pitch more than four innings in Monday’s loss to the Washington Nationals. But, as a result, the Angels now have a clearer answer who they’ll have available to be their swing No. 6 starter Wednesday.
Griffin Canning, who last pitched in 2021 because of a back injury and started this season on the injured list because of a groin strain, will start for the Angels, manager Phil Nevin said after Monday’s game.
Canning is on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 27, but is eligible to return in time for Wednesday’s game.
The Angels lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 12-11 in 10 innings Sunday at Angel Stadium. They had a 6-0 lead entering the sixth inning.
Tucker Davidson was needed to take over for Suarez in the fifth inning Monday, pitching three innings in relief, which meant he would not be able to start Wednesday. And because Jaime Barría pitched Sunday, Canning became the logical choice.
The Angels lost to the Nationals 6-4 at Angel Stadium in part because of Suarez’s outing and because of defensive struggles.
Suarez gave up four earned runs and 10 hits, walking one batter on a pitch-clock violation and striking out just two.
“I feel bad that I couldn’t help the team. Annoying. Super annoying,” Suarez said in Spanish after the game. “I saw the contact, I thought it was soft contact, not hard contact that I know of. But I can’t control that.”
Three of the first four hits were ground balls that found holes and dribbled into the outfield grass. One of the four runs Suarez surrendered happened because of a throwing error from Luis Rengifo, which would have secured the final out of the inning.
“It’s two days of us hitting the ball hard and not giving up a lot of hard contact,” Nevin said. “That being said, we had some things defensively we didn’t do right.”
Other debatable misplays resulted in runs. In the fourth inning, first baseman Brandon Drury tried to start a double play on a ground ball hit by CJ Abrams with Keibert Ruiz on third and Victor Robles on first. Drury threw to second to get Robles instead of throwing home and Abrams beat the return throw to keep the inning alive.
“I’m always gonna try to turn that double play, fast guy like [Abrams],” Drury said “but slow roller, I should have went home.”
That fourth inning erased the Angels’ 4-1 lead. In the first inning, Rengifo drove in two runners, one being Mike Trout, who set an Angel Stadium record for career runs with 523. The previous record was held by Garret Anderson with 522 runs. In the third inning, Gio Urshela had an RBI and Hunter Renfroe hit his third home run in as many games.
As for Suarez, his season is off to a rocky start. In Seattle on April 4, he gave up six earned runs, including two home runs, in 4 1/3 innings.
After that game, he said he was confident his start Monday at Angel Stadium would be better.
Suarez faced the Marinershaving not pitched a competitive game since March 17 in spring training.
Nevin said Suarez’s outing in Seattle was a learning experience and that a different atmosphere would help him.
After Monday’s game, he evaluated Suarez’s outing in Anaheim as scattered, but reiterated his confidence in him.
“There were breaking balls that didn’t have the bite it normally does,” Nevin said, “left some changeups up and the result, just a lot of balls in the middle of the plate, which weren’t hit all that hard.
“He’s gonna get better, he knows that. We trust him, he’s done a good job for us. He pitched well for us last year. And he’ll find it. It’s been two starts.”
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