CLEVELAND -- The Angels had the Guardians on the ropes in the seventh inning Tuesday.
While the Angels’ offense had failed to get the big, game-breaking hit through the first 15 innings of the series, walks to Zach Neto and Mike Trout gave them runners on first and second with just one out and Nolan Schaunel walking up to the plate.
It’s the kind of scenario the Angels need to capitalize on if they want to succeed for the rest of the 2026 season.
They’re going to need to wait another day for that success to happen, however, as any chance of a rally fizzled thanks to back-to-back strikeouts from Schaunel and Jorge Soler. Two innings later, Cade Smith struck out Schaunel for the final out in the Angels’ 3-2 loss.
“I think they’re all frustrating; it doesn’t matter who’s up or what inning it is,” manager Kurt Suzuki said of the seventh inning. “When you’re scuffling, things like this happen and then they get magnified.”
The Angels have now left 21 runners on base through their two games against the Guardians, losing both despite outhitting Cleveland 17-11.
“When you’re struggling to score runs and you get guys in scoring position, guys tend to try too hard and start doing things that are uncharacteristic,” Suzuki said. “That’s literally what happened. I’ve been there and know what they’re going through. We’ve just got to go up there and not try so hard to be the guy.”
While the Angels scored two runs, they also finished 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Their first run came in the sixth inning on a Jo Adell sacrifice fly following an Oswald Peraza pinch-hit triple, and Vaughn Grissom brought in their second run on a 406-foot solo home run in the eighth.
Grissom has now driven in at least one run in three straight games and has hit both of his homers this season against right-handed pitchers.
“He got a good pitch to drive and put a good swing on it,” Suzuki said. “Nobody on base, not trying to do too much. Just tried to put a good swing on it and it went.”
But it’s going to take more than solo home runs to get the Angels in the win column, which Grissom acknowledged.
“I know personally I left four guys on base there, so that kind of stunk,” Grissom said. “The good teams get that base hit and usually the teams that get that hit win the game. I know we’d like to have that back.”
That sluggish offense performance came on a day when Walbert Ureña once again gave his team five solid innings. But much like Ureña’s three previous starts, it featured some good and some bad.
He’s now worked 5-plus innings with two or fewer runs allowed in three straight starts. He also allowed just one walk Tuesday, which is the fewest free passes he’s allowed in a start in his young career.
It wasn’t incredibly dominant, but it was a serviceable start for an Angels rotation that’s been middle-of-the-pack this season (4.10 starter ERA).
But there was also the bad -- most of which came on one pitch.
The Guardians’ first run against Ureña came in the third, when he left a changeup over the plate that Angel Martínez lifted out to right field for a towering solo home run with only one hand on the bat.
“I know he didn’t hit it that hard and maybe the wind helped it,” Ureña said. “I’d throw that pitch again.”
The Guardians added their other run against Ureña in the fifth on a Patrick Bailey groundout that was set up by Ureña's only walk of the game. Cleveland had a chance to get more on a deep fly ball from Martínez, but Jo Adell made a fantastic jumping catch at the wall to rob him of extra bases.
“He’s getting better each start,” Suzuki said of Ureña. “The stuff has always been there, now it’s just executing consistently. I really like watching him progress from start to start.”
After the game, Suzuki acknowledged that everyone in the Angels’ clubhouse knows the team is in a slump right now. And, in his mind, the best way for them to get out of that is by everyone getting back to being themselves.
“We just have to go back to having good at-bats and letting the game dictate itself,” he said.