ANAHEIM — It wasn’t so much the first inning that got right-hander Griffin Canning in trouble this time. It was the first, second and fourth innings that put the Angels in a sizable hole that neither Canning nor the rest of the team could completely overcome.
But the Angels tried with a late rally that came up short in a 6-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
Trailing, 6-0, the Angels scored three runs in the ninth before putting two men on first and second base with two outs. Taylor Ward then blasted a 2-and-2 pitch to the wall that Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick managed to snag, ending the Angels’ comeback bid.
But before any of the 27,967 fans got fully out of their seats, the umpires called for a replay of the final out. Just to be sure.
“I thought it was a tie ballgame,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He (Frelick) went up there and got it off the wall. I wanted to see if he caught it off the screen, but it was legit.”
Ward said he wasn’t sure if Frelick was going to reach the ball.
“It’s baseball,” he said. “It is what it is.”
The brief comeback was a welcomed respite from the other eight innings. Up until then, the Angels couldn’t muster much offense against Brewers starter Tobias Myers (4-2). The right-hander held the Angels scoreless on four hits, striking out six and walking two to pick up the victory.
“We didn’t quit,” Washington said. “We just couldn’t do anything with the start of the game. We put ourselves in position to pick and peck and maybe get a run here and a run there, but we just couldn’t get to him (Myers). Then we took care of the bullpen when they came in, but it wasn’t enough.”
Canning came into the game against the Brewers having allowed 18 earned runs in his 14 first innings this season. He said after his previous outing that he has had trouble settling in. It took him a few innings longer on Tuesday, which only made things worse for the right-hander.
Canning was…
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