Angels blow lead in 9th, lose to Astros

ANAHEIM — The wheels were put into motion for the Angels’ gut-wrenching 9-8 loss to the Houston Astros long before the ninth-inning nightmare that ended it on Sunday.

Alex Bregman’s two-run homer against Jaime Barría put the Astros on top after they had trailed by four runs at the start of the eighth.

The heavy reliever usage from Saturday’s dramatic victory – including an injury to Chris Devenski – came back to haunt the Angels on Sunday.

“That hurts,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “It stings. Build off of yesterday. We talked about the fight and everything, so yeah that one hurts.”

The Angels were already down three relievers before starter Tyler Anderson got knocked out after 85 pitches in three innings, leaving Nevin to navigate the Astros’ dangerous lineup without the ability to use his best arms the way he would normally use them.

Closer Carlos Estévez was summoned for the eighth, with a four-run lead, because Nevin was down to Estévez, Barría and left-hander Aaron Loup. He wanted Estévez to face the heart of the lineup in the eighth.

Estévez gave up a two-run homer to Chas McCormick, cutting the lead in half before Barria got the ball in the ninth.

“It’d be very rare I’m gonna go to Esty there, but it’s the heart of their order and my best against their best,” Nevin said. “And I’m going to hand it to Barria in the ninth. It just didn’t work out.”

Barria walked pinch-hitter Bligh Madris and then gave up a single to Grae Kessinger. He got the next two outs, with one run scoring on a ground ball.

Barria’s first pitch to Bregman was a hanging slider, and Bregman ripped it over the left field fence to give the Astros the lead.

Kyle Tucker then followed with a homer, giving the Astros an insurance run.

That proved to be the difference, because the Angels scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on Shohei Ohtani’s 34th homer. They had a chance at more when Matt Thaiss hit a line drive into right, but Tucker made a diving catch to end the game.

Afterward, Nevin was confronted with a handful of questions about why he’d deployed his relievers the way that he did.

Why not leave Estévez out for the ninth after he’d gotten through the eighth?

Nevin said he didn’t want to use Estévez that much after he’d also thrown on Saturday night. He needed 15 pitches to get through the eighth.

“I respect his decision,” Estévez said. “I pitched yesterday and he didn’t want me to pitch two innings. It is what it is. I don’t control that. I just control the effort I put out there. I wish I went back out there, but at the same time I understand he’s trying to protect me.”

Nevin was also asked why he didn’t bring in Loup to face Tucker. He admitted he would be “thinking about it,” but he said at the time he didn’t want to use his last available pitcher when it was still a one-run game and extra innings were possible.

Nevin was limited in his bullpen choices because of what happened on Saturday.

Devenski felt something in his hamstring while he was allowing five runs on Saturday night, and on Sunday the Angels determined he’ll need to go on the injured list.

Left-hander Matt Moore, who pitched on Saturday night for the first time since coming off the injured list, was not available for back-to-back games so soon after coming back, Nevin said.

Left-hander Tucker Davidson was not available after throwing 27 pitches on Saturday night.

Without those pitchers, the Angels still needed to navigate six innings because of Anderson’s sloppy outing. Although he gave up only one run, he gave up five hits and two walks and lasted just nine outs. He felt some cramping in his calf during the third inning, ensuring that he would not be able to come back for the fourth.

“I let our guys down,” Anderson said. “I feel like I put on a lot of work on our bullpen. You don’t want to go three innings. You want to try to get as much length as you can.”

After Anderson, José Soriano, Zack Weiss and Jacob Webb each pitched, getting the game through the seventh inning. It was a 3-3 tie when the Angels exploded for four runs in the bottom of the seventh, capping a day in which the Angels drove in six runs with two outs.

Trey Cabbage, who was making his first big league start, drove in two runs with a two-run double in the fourth, putting the Angels ahead 3-1. In the seventh, Cabbage singled with one out.

Pinch-runner Andrew Velazquez then scored from first on Zach Neto’s two-out double. After Ohtani was intentionally walked and Mickey Moniak was hit by a pitch, Taylor Ward drove in three runs with a double, giving the Angels a four-run lead.

After they trailed by two in the bottom of the ninth, they nearly pulled it out again. They had runners at first and second with two outs when Tucker made a spectacular catch to end it.

The Angels ended up losing two of three in the series, despite scoring 26 runs.

“We had some quality at-bats and scored a lot of runs,” Nevin said. “Score that many runs in a series, we should win games.”