Heading into Saturday’s game, the Angels had won nine and lost nine on the season and had not been under .500 at any point to start the 2021 campaign. The 18-game stretch of playing .500 or above to start a season was the longest for an Angels team since 2005.

That run of success came to a jarring end on Saturday in Houston. The Astros' offense was too much to overcome for the Halos, as they lost 16-2 in the third game of the four-game series at Minute Maid Park.

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Starting pitcher Griffin Canning allowed six runs in just 2 1/3 innings, and neither Junior Guerra nor Steve Cishek could stop the onslaught by an Astros offense that put up 13 runs through the first five innings of the ballgame.

Angels manager Joe Maddon said pitch command was an issue for Canning, contributing to the short outing for the righty.

“[Canning] was just missing from the side,” Maddon said. “The numbers on the gun appeared to be appropriate, but they weren’t getting any bad swings at him. I mean, he just was not seemingly [able] to make the adjustment.”

Prior to making the start on Saturday, Canning has had a bit of an irregular work schedule within the Angels’ rotation. Canning made an appearance out of the bullpen against the Rangers on April 20 before making his start against Houston. 

Despite the shuffle, Canning said that had no effect on him. His biggest issue, he said, was the command of his slider, which led to hard contact from the Astros’ hitters. They had a 97.6 mph average exit velocity against Canning.

“[I] didn't have my slider there, so obviously that's been one of my better pitches this year so far,” Canning said. “So [I] just really wasn't able to command it [and] didn't really have a feel for it. Yeah, [I] just left it over the middle [and] they did their job [and] they hammered them.”

Canning gave up a leadoff home run to shortstop Carlos Correa to start the Astros’ half of the first inning, and left the game after third baseman Alex Bregman homered to make it a 6-2 contest in the third.

With Canning unable to make it past the third inning, he became the second Angels starter to not last through three innings during the series against the Astros. On Thursday, Alex Cobb was pulled after allowing five runs (four earned) in his 2 2/3 innings of work in a 8-2 loss against Houston.

Maddon said that the starters’ early exits have been tough, but relief pitcher Ben Rowen has played an important role that should not be overlooked.

On Thursday, Rowen worked 2 1/3 innings from the bullpen and followed that up by pitching another 2 1/3 innings in Saturday’s loss. 

Maddon said that the role Rowen has played in the last two games allows the Angels’ bullpen to be more flexible in the coming days. 

“[Rowen] threw I think about 50 pitches today, and he threw 35 two days ago,” Maddon said. “That's why I'm singing his praises. He really has saved us. ... When you have people like that on your team that are very selfless and they go out there in an altruistic spirit, they do the right thing for the group and that's what he did.”