ANAHEIM -- Coming off his best career start that saw him allow just one hit over seven scoreless innings against the Astros, rookie right-hander George Klassen couldn’t quite produce a similar performance for an encore facing the Guardians on Monday.
Klassen was mostly effective, but had trouble throwing strikes in a 4-2 loss in the series opener at Angel Stadium. Klassen allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits over 5 1/3 innings, as just 54 of his 90 pitches went for strikes and he issued three walks. It was one of those outings where things were just a bit off, but Klassen did his best to pitch as deep as he could.
“I had some things working, some things not working,” Klassen said. “Just used what I got and just gave it my all.”
It was still a learning experience for the 24-year-old on how to keep his team in the game, even when his command is shaky. Klassen, however, will need to continue to cut down on his walk rate. He has a solid 3.67 ERA in six starts this season, but has walked 21 batters in 27 innings, compared to 24 strikeouts.
“I thought Klassen was good,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “The command probably wasn't as good as it was in Houston, but I think the maturity is starting to show, where a start like that, maybe earlier in the year, he might have blown up. And for him to pitch into the sixth inning, giving us a chance to win, I thought was a good step in the right direction again.”
He did an impressive job limiting the damage with runners on base, especially after loading the bases with one out in the third. He gave up consecutive singles to Steven Kwan and José Ramírez before walking former Angels right fielder Jo Adell on four pitches. Klassen got Nathaniel Lowe to fly out to deep center for a sacrifice fly before he got out of the jam by throwing to first base to try to pick off Adell, only to get Ramírez out in a rundown between third and home to end the inning.
“The biggest thing is not let stuff spiral out of control,” Klassen said. “So when something happens, just try to put the foot down and end it there.”
In the fifth, he was hurt by the defense, as Brayan Rocchio reached on a leadoff error from rookie third baseman Denzer Guzman before eventually scoring the go-ahead run on a single from Adell. The run was unearned, and Klassen escaped further trouble with Jose Siri making an impressive catch in the right-field corner to take away an RBI extra-base hit from Lowe.
“It was unbelievable,” Klassen said. “He covered, like, 200 feet to get that one. That was pretty sick.”
Klassen went back out for the sixth, but walked Angel Genao on five pitches before getting Angel Martínez to line out to left. The Angels had seen enough from Klassen, and went to lefty Blake Weiman, who later served up a two-run homer to Austin Hedges with two outs -- with one of those runs being charged to Klassen.
Klassen also didn’t get much help from the offense, as the Angels weren’t able to muster much against fellow rookie Parker Messick. The Angels didn’t get their first baserunner until Zach Neto singled to open the fourth, while Mike Trout followed with a single of his own.
Rookie Moisés Ballesteros came through with an RBI single off Messick to get the Angels on the board, but it was the only run they scored against him in six frames. It was still a good sign for the left-handed-hitting Ballesteros to hang in there against a tough lefty like Messick, who is among the top candidates for the AL Rookie of the Year Award.
“He was good,” Suzuki said of Messick. “He was attacking the zone. He threw strikes. He expanded when he had to expand, but he really kind of had us on our heels the whole night.”
The Angels, though, rallied in the ninth, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly from Gustavo Campero before Christian Moore launched a deep drive to left-center field that looked like it was going to tie it at 4 -- but was caught at the warning track by Kwan to end the game.
“I thought it was gone,” Suzuki said. “I think by his reaction after it got caught, he was kind of shocked that it didn't go out. But against an All-Star closer [Cade Smith], for the guys to do that and give us a chance to tie the game up right there with one swing, was a testament to their fight.”