Walbert Ureña suffers rare blowup in Angels loss

MIAMI - Walbert Ureña has been one of the most pleasant surprises to come out of the Los Angeles Angels this season, but that doesn't mean that he's immune to bad days. 

Saturday's start against the Miami Marlins was one of those days. 

Things went mostly smoothly for the flame-throwing 22-year-old through the first two innings, but the third was where things fell apart. 

Owen Caissie led off the bottom of the third with a line drive and soon after Ureña allowed back-to-back walks to load the bases with just one out, bringing up Xavier Edwards with a chance to do some serious damage. 

A Tough Fourth

That's exactly what Edwards did. He ripped a sweeper at the top outside corner of the zone down the left field line for a double to drive in two runs, but that was just the start of Ureña's struggles. 

He allowed yet another walk to the next batter to step up to the plate, Kyle Stowers, then allowed a two-RBI single to Otto Lopez, again to left field, to improve the Marlins to a 4-0 lead. 

That single ended Ureña's day as Brett Kerry came in for relief, leaving Ureña with 2.1 innings pitched with four earned runs on four hits and three walks allowed while striking out just two, his worst start since a seven-run blowup he suffered against the Athletics on June 26. 

The rookie Kerry found himself in an interesting position after taking over for Ureña in the third as manager Kurt Suzuki chose to keep Kerry in for the rest of the game rather than utilize the rest of the bullpen. 

Kerry's Long Day

Kerry managed himself fairly well beyond one difficult inning of his own when the Marlins tacked on another three runs in the bottom of the fifth. 

Jakob Marsee led off the inning with a triple down the right field line, then headed home when Edwards singled him in with another line drive to Wade Meckler in left field. 

Kerry got one out after giving up that run, but two singles and a double followed to improve the Marlins to a 7-0 lead. 

Still, Kerry stayed on the mound for the rest of the game and finished with 5.2 innings pitched while allowing three earned runs on six hits and one walk, but a promising site from Kerry was the seven Marlins that he struck out. 

Scoreless Against Alcantra

Even if Ureña or Kerry hadn't had the difficult innings that they did, the Angels still would have had a hard time taking the ballgame considering they were shut out by the combined efforts of Miami starter Sandy Alcantra, who in the process of shutting out the Angels became the Marlins' all-time leader in innings pitched, and the Marlins bullpen. 

The Angels managed just five hits the whole game and while they had opportunities in front of them, finished the game 0-6 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base, continuing a worrying trend of the Angels being unable to capitalize with runners on.