ANAHEIM — The Angels were on their way to a rare comfortable victory, when they suddenly reverted to the form that has sent them to one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
The Angels led by six runs in the third inning and still led by five when the eighth began, but they gave up six runs in the final two innings of a 9-8 loss to the Texas Rangers on Saturday.
Manager Ron Washington said the poor finish was the result of his inexperienced team feeling the pressure of the big leagues.
“They’re feeling the heat,” Washington said. “They’re feeling the pressure. You can see it. There’s really no reason to. I can say that, because I’m not between the lines. But those guys between the lines, you can see it.”
The Rangers scored two against left-hander Brock Burke in the eighth, and then the Angels fell apart in the ninth.
Left-hander José Quijada walked three and hit a batter, retiring only one hitter.
“I just think he tries to overthrow,” Washington said. “He gets out there and gets excited, and he just tries to overdo it. He’s certainly got to work on trying to control his emotions and calming down and executing one pitch at a time and and that’s what it’s going to take.”
The bases were loaded and the Angels were still up 8-6 when rookie Ryan Miller entered. He gave up a single to Jonathan Ornelas. Right fielder Gustavo Campero then airmailed the cutoff man, allowing a third run to score on the play, giving the Rangers the lead.
The late meltdown spoiled Logan O’Hoppe’s four-hit game, Campero’s first big league homer and a solid start from right-hander Griffin Canning.
O’Hoppe had his second four-hit game in a span of eight days.
O’Hoppe was having one of the best offensive seasons of any big league catcher as late as early August, before he went into a lengthy tailspin.
The natural assumption was that he was faltering because of fatigue from playing so many games behind the plate. O’Hoppe insisted he wasn’t tired, and lately his bat has come back to life.
Since last Saturday, O’Hoppe is 11 for 22 with four extra-base hits. It’s helped lift his season average to .244 and his OPS to .712. The major league average OPS for catchers is .678.
O’Hoppe said he is feeling “way better. Things are simplified. Came a little too late, but good to finish season feeling back towards myself again and build on that in the winter.”
O’Hoppe has hit 20 homers, the first Angels catcher to reach that threshold since Mike Napoli in 2008.
On Saturday, O’Hoppe led off the second with a single, opening the door for a three-run inning. O’Hoppe was at first after an infield single in the third inning, when Campero broke the game open by pulling a homer just inside the left field pole.
Campero spent seven years in the minors before finally getting his chance in the big leagues this season. He’s driven in six runs in his first 12 games.
Kavadas followed Campero’s homer with a solo shot, his fourth homer. Kavadas, who was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in the Luis Garcia trade this summer, has an .824 OPS in September.
His homer gave the Angels a 7-1 lead.
Canning gave up two runs in five innings. Canning gave up a homer to Brandon Lowe in the second. In the fourth, the Rangers loaded the bases with no outs, but Canning escaped with just one run scoring.
He then finished with a perfect fifth.
Canning reached career highs in games (32) and innings (171⅔), but he posted a 5.19 ERA.
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