Patrick Sandoval’s pitching, Taylor Ward’s home run carry Angels past Cardinals
ST. LOUIS — Taylor Ward capped a four-run first inning with a three-run homer, Patrick Sandoval combined with three relievers on a four-hitter, and the Angels beat St. Louis 5-1 on Tuesday night to extend the Cardinals’ losing streak to four.
St. Louis (10-20), facing the Angels (16-14) for the first time in four years, has lost eight of its last 10 games and is 0-10 in series openers.
“We’re all frustrated,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “When you start going up and down each guy on this roster, there’s not a lack of anything other than baseball’s tough right now. Guys are preparing well. They’re taking their best shot, and it’s not working out, so it’s hard to get frustrated with them.
Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh, who had a woeful season for the Angels in 2022, is among the league leaders in many offensive categories this season.
On a night when Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani was given his second game off this season, Mike Trout walked against Steven Matz (0-4) with one out in the first, Hunter Renfroe singled and Anthony Rendon hit a go-ahead single.
With two outs, Ward hit a 2-and-2 changeup over the left-field wall for his fourth homer this season and a 4-0 lead.
“The boys came out swinging in the first inning,” Sandoval said. “All you can ask for as a starter is to start the game and when you get on the mound you have a lead. It’s awesome.”
Rookie Zach Neto added an RBI single in the sixth off Drew VerHagen.
Sandoval (3-1), coming off a victory over Oakland, won back-to-back starts for the first time since last May. Making his first appearance against the Cardinals, he yielded three hits and three walks in five-plus innings and struck out four. He gave up his only run on Andrew Knizner’s RBI groundout in the fifth.
“I feel like the changeup was good when I needed it,” Sandoval said. “It was a bit of a grind, though. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get a grip on the ball the whole game. It was kind of frustrating, but I battled and got through five.”
Chris Devenski, making his second appearance since he was brought up from the minors by the Angels, relieved with two on in the sixth inning. He got Nolan Arenado to ground into a double play and retired Dylan Carlson on a flyout.
Devenski, a 32-year-old right-hander in his eighth big league season, pitched a perfect seventh inning.
The Angels’ Matt Moore struck out three around a single in the eighth, and Carlos Estévez struck out two in a perfect ninth.
Matz gave up four runs, six hits and two walks in five innings.
“I got into a rhythm after that first inning,” Matz said. “One pitch got me bad there. Not the start I was going for, start of the season or the game. I’ve got a lot of things I need to address and look at. Ultimately, I can look at the four innings today finishing strong, so I’ll build off that.”
Remembering an icon: The Cardinals held a pregame moment of silence for former player and broadcaster Mike Shannon, who died Sunday. Shannon played with the Cardinals for parts of nine seasons before spending 50 years in the broadcast booth.
Shohei Ohtani continued his stellar season at the plate for the Angels in a 3-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Rest for Ohtani: The Angels were off Monday, and Ohtani got consecutive days off going into his mound start Wednesday night.
Injury update: The Angels activated pitcher Ryan Tepera (right shoulder inflammation) from the 15-day injured list and optioned pitcher Andrew Wantz to triple-A Salt Lake.
Up next: Right-hander Ohtani (4-0, 1.85 ERA) will make his first career pitching appearance against the Cardinals on Wednesday night. He will be opposed by right-hander Miles Mikolas (1-1, 5.97 ERA), who is 1-2 with a 3.07 ERA in four two starts and two relief appearances against the Angels.
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