ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As news of Robert Stephenson’s season-ending elbow injury hit the Angels, the reality hit that this bullpen is going to need some help.
From the starters.
“We’d like to take some of the load off (the relievers) because I don’t think we can keep this up,” manager Ron Washington said. “We’re trying to put some pressure on our starting pitchers to try to go out there and pound the strike zone early, so by the time we’re getting into the sixth or seventh inning, we have convenient pitches to get us deep in the game.”
Angels starters were averaging 4.9 innings per start heading into Thursday’s game, which ranked 27th in the majors.
Obviously there have been some starts cut short because of poor performances, but in other games the pitch count has knocked out the starter early.
Left-hander Patrick Sandoval, the Angels’ Opening Day starter, still hasn’t finished six innings. On Monday night, he gave up only one run in an encouraging start, but he was done after five innings because he was at 93 pitches.
Left-hander Reid Detmers has been the Angels’ best starter, but his longest outing was 6 1/3 innings. Left-hander Tyler Anderson is the only Angels starter to finish seven innings, doing it twice in his three starts.
Right-hander Griffin Canning, who has struggled in his first three starts, hadn’t gotten an out in the sixth inning as he went into Thursday’s start.
Right-hander José Soriano has been a reliever, so he’s still learning how to get deep into a game. Washington said he was “gassed” after throwing 90 pitches in five innings Tuesday.
One of the underlying issues has been that the pitchers have so far not accomplished the team’s often-discussed goal of throwing more strikes.
Angels starters and relievers both rank dead last in the majors in percentage of first-pitch strikes.
“All you can do is constantly talk about it,” Washington said. “At some point, these guys are pretty good professionals, they’ll figure it out. But we need them to pound the strike zone more, especially strike one.”
LEFT OUT
The Angels are going to face left-hander Nick Lodolo on Friday in Cincinnati, ending their streak of 13 consecutive games against right-handed starters.
The Angels faced only two lefties in the first 19 games, winning them both.
The Angels’ two switch-hitters, Aaron Hicks and Luis Rengifo, are significantly better against left-handed pitchers. The power hitters in the middle of the Angels order – Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, Brandon Drury and Logan O’Hoppe – are all right-handed hitters, so mixing in more lefties could help them too.
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NOTES
Matt Vasgersian will be doing play by play on the Angels’ television broadcasts this weekend in Cincinnati. It will be the first series of the year for Vasgersian with the Angels. …
Mike Trout set the Angels franchise record for walks this week, passing Tim Salmon with his 971st walk. Trout also extended his franchise record with 376 homers.
UP NEXT
Angels (LHP Tyler Anderson, 2-1, 1.47) vs. Reds (LHP Nick Lodolo, 1-0, 0.00) at Great American Ball Park, 3:40 p.m. PT Friday, Bally Sports West, 830 AM.
