Ballesteros, Neto's HRs a silver lining to end Angels' 9-game road trip

WASHINGTON -- The Angels will be happy to head home after their nine-game, three-city East Coast road trip ended with a disappointing series in our nation’s capital.

The Angels were swept by the Nationals in this weekend’s three-game set with Sunday’s 6-5 loss. All three losses were by one run, with the Angels holding a lead after the fifth inning in each game. This was the first time the Angels have been swept by the Nationals in a series of any length.

After scoring two runs to take a 4-2 lead in the eighth, a depleted Angels bullpen gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning to give the Nationals the lead right back. The Halos were able to push one more run across in the ninth, but their last-ditch effort fell just short again.

“We were working with a shorter bullpen,” manager Kurt Suzuki said after the game. “We had a bunch of guys that weren't up to pitch today. So that gave other guys opportunities. It didn't go our way, but we learn from it and we move forward.”

Moisés Ballesteros and Zach Neto each hit solo homers to give the Angels a 2-0 lead by the end of the fifth inning.

Ballesteros hit the first solo shot on the first pitch by Nationals long reliever Jake Irvin in the fourth inning. The ball traveled a Statcast-projected 407 feet to center at 104.8 mph for the catcher’s ninth home run of the season.

Ballesteros also finished with a walk in the sixth and a sacrifice fly in the eighth to extend the Angels’ short-lived lead.

“Patience,” Ballesteros said. “This team, we got a lot of patience. We played together. We played for a team, and then we got good results. And when I had the rally, that's what happened in the eighth.

Neto hit Irvin’s first-pitch sinker in the fifth inning a Statcast-projected 440 feet to center field at 107.1 mph off his bat. Neto has now matched his single-season high of 26 home runs from last year and set a new Angels single-season record for most homers by a shortstop (25 home runs as a shortstop and one as a pinch-hitter in 2025).

And with his stolen base in the top of the eighth, Neto became the third player in Angels history to have three seasons of 20-plus doubles, 20-plus home runs and 20-plus stolen bases, joining Mike Trout and Don Baylor.

After a tumultuous first inning, Grayson Rodriguez settled in to give the Angels some much-needed length.

The right-hander held the Nats scoreless before being charged with two runs in the sixth to end his outing. Rodriguez finished 5 1/2 innings with seven hits, two runs, one walk and four strikeouts on 93 pitches, 63 for strikes.

“Being able to land off-speed for strikes I think is a big thing,” Rodriguez said. “It's something I've struggled with this year. But yeah, anytime I can get in the zone with some off-speed stuff, it makes it a little bit easier to pitch [deep] into a ballgame.”

Rodriguez is now 4-7 with a 6.10 ERA on the season.

“Obviously, I was glad to bounce back after a tough start in Boston,” he said. “But yeah, like you said, consistency's been the biggest issue. That's what's been the hardest thing to figure out. But yeah, there have been some good outings and some bad ones. But try to build off of it and look forward to the next one.”

The Angels finished 3-6 on this long road to Pittsburgh, Boston and Washington. Now they return home for their final homestand of the season. Reid Detmers kicks off the seven-game home slate Monday night against the Mariners. The left-hander leads the Major Leagues with a 1.37 ERA (nine earned runs in 59 1/3 innings) since the All-Star break.

“You think about this road trip in general,” Suzuki said. “The first series we played against Pittsburgh, we gave up three runs the whole thing and we lost two out of three. We won two out of three in Boston. Here we had the lead going into the eighth inning, ninth inning, every single game. It could easily have been a really good road trip, but that's the way baseball goes sometimes. And you gotta pick yourself up and get ready to play tomorrow.”