ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Connor Brogdon came in the sixth inning to keep the Angels' day alive after Tyler Anderson gave up 2 runs in the fifth, putting the Angels in a 1 run deficit. Brogdon increased that deficit to 5 after a brutal sixth inning.
Brogdon's struggled when Ramon Laureano found his way around the bases without assistance from an Orioles hitter.
The Angels (16-23) sixth-inning nightmare resulted in a 7-3 loss Sunday afternoon. It was also Anderson's first loss of the season. He is now 2-1 with a 2.68 ERA this season.
"Some things didn't go the way we wanted them to but in general I feel like in general need to keep making pitches and give us a chance and stay in there." Anderson said.
The battle of the sixth between Laureano and Brogdon first started when Laureano earned a six-pitch walk to open the inning.
With Jackson Holliday at the plate, Laureano stole second, putting himself in scoring position. His presence continued to be a distraction for Brogdon in the next at-bat.
Emmanuel Rivera was now up at the plate for Baltimore. Brogdon tried to get Laureano out at second by making a pick-off attempt at second but overthrew the ball, throwing it just past second base. Laureano took advantage of the moment and advanced to third.
With Laureano still at third, Brogdon still had to worry about Rivera at the plate.
On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Brogdon overthrew his changeup, resulting in a run scored by Rivera on a wild pitch, giving the Orioles a 4-2 lead.
Brogdon's struggles in the inning continued when he walked Rivera. Cedric Mullins singled, advancing Rivera to third. Maverick Handley then laid down a squeeze bunt at home to score Rivera.
Baltimore then put the cherry on top of Brogdon's struggling sixth inning woes when Gunnar Henderson launched his fifth homer of the season towards center field, making the score 7-2.
"Well number one. The walk started it," Manager Ron Washington said. "And then I didn't see a lot of urgency on that bunt. And then the pickoff play. And then gave up the home run. That's how we ended the sixth inning. We still searching to find somebody to shut it down."
Sunday's game started with two critical mistakes for the Angels.
The first came from a pop fly in the first inning from Adley Rutschman after Taylor Ward lost sight of the ball from the sun. Rutschman earned an RBI triple on the play.
"It went up through the decks and then once it hit the sky I lost it completely." Ward said.
The next mistake happened in the third, when Jorge Soler ran past second base on a single to right hit by Ward. Yoán Moncada and Soler were on the basepaths during Ward's hit, and Moncada took a few steps off the bag before returning back.
Soler did not stop.
The two met at third base after Soler missed the sign to stay at second base, and the play resulted in the two meeting at third and Soler being tagged out at the base.
"When there's a runner on the base in front of you. You run the base with your head up, make certain that you see the guy in front of is doing before you take another one." Washington said.
In the next at-bat, Logan O'Hoppe grounded out to end the inning.
The Angels' only runs today came in the first inning from Ward, O'Hoppe and Matthew Lugo. Lugo's home run was in the ninth. Coming in to pinch hit for Jo Adell, Lugo swung at the first pitch he saw and took it 421 feet for his first career home run.
Notes
Today was Kevin Newman's first start at first base this season. Newman has appeared in 19 games at first in his career before today. Newman committed zero errors at first and even made a nice back-handed play with his glove.
Zach Neto hit a ball off his shin. Neto took an injury timeout and remained in the game, but showed a lot of discomfort during the play.
Caden Dana was scratched from his start in Triple-A