José Quijada crumbles in the ninth as Angels blow lead and fall to Royals
There was plenty of blame to go around in the Angels’ 11-8 loss to the lowly Kansas City Royals. Maybe the little errors. Possibly the call review that cost them a challenge later in the game. Perhaps some spots of pitching that, at least before the ninth inning, the offense was able to overcome.
But the lasting memory that Angels fans who watched Saturday’s game will have will be the ninth inning that unraveled in spectacular fashion. Reliever José Quijada gave up five earned runs on two hits, two walks and two hit batters as the Angels lost an 8-6 lead. He was charged with the loss and a blown save.
It’s important to note that this bad outing for Quijada was exactly that: a bad outing. Good relievers have bad games. Before Saturday, Quijada had not allowed a run, had given up just three hits and walked just one batter in eight outings.
Manager Phil Nevin said that Carlos Estévez, who has also closed games this season, was not available, but pointed out that Quijada has closed successfully in the past.
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It appears the Angels got in their own way of winning a game that, based on the standings, should have been theirs.
The Angels have been their own biggest obstacle in the past, most recently in two losses in Boston last weekend — although Saturday’s game was lost on pitching, not necessarily sloppy defense.
Nevin said he was not worried about a recurring pattern of those type of losses.
“Have we lost games with self-inflicted wounds? Absolutely,” Nevin said. “Am I worried about that part of it? No, because we’ve not done that in a little while.
“We’ve played a much better brand of baseball lately than we did a couple of those games in Boston and a couple before that. I’m not worried about that.”
The ninth began with Nicky Lopez being hit and Kyle Isbel followed with a deep drive that just missed the yellow home run line on top of the fence in right field. The umpires originally ruled the hit a home run but — after a review — changed it to double. Isbel moved to third base during the play after Hunter Renfroe’s throw to Zach Neto bounced in the grass and popped up, hit Neto in the shin and skittered into the outfield.
“That was just a weird bullet that skipped on dewy grass at night and it hit Neto in the shin,” Nevin said. “That’s nobody’s fault.”
That one sequence allowed just one run to score, but later led to four more runs. By the time Quijada was pulled, unable to get the last out of the top of the ninth, the damage was done.
“Like I’ve always said, this level is very hard,” Quijada said in Spanish after the game. “I had a bad outing, but I have to move forward and keep working.”
The ending of it all dampened what could have been a game about the offense doing what it was designed to do: get big hits.
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The day started with Mike Trout collecting his ninth Silver Slugger award. He smiled for cameras, was serenaded by cheering as he triumphantly walked back with his latest piece of hardware. Not too long after that, Trout reminded the Angel Stadium crowd why he’s been a perennial winner of the award. In the bottom of the fifth, Trout hit a towering two-run home run for a 4-3 lead.
Renfroe had his 18th career multi-home run game on Saturday, hitting solo shots in the the fourth and sixth inning.
Renfroe’s first home run came with a little scare as the baseball hit a young fan in the first row of seats by the base of the left-field foul pole. The fan ultimately appeared OK and he was given what appeared to be an ice pack and a towel for the side of his face, where the ball hit him.
And Matt Thaiss — who had been called for two catchers interference calls in Boston — later hit his own two-run blast, his first home run of the season, which allowed the Angels to pull ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning, 8-6.
“Definitely not the circumstances we wanted,” Thaiss said, “but we’ll get back out there tomorrow and I think it was a good step for me today at the plate.”
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