CHICAGO -- All things considered, the Angels’ return trip to Wrigley Field on Monday could not have gone much worse.
Besides losing a day off at home and traveling 4,500 miles from Seattle to Chicago to Anaheim in roughly 24 hours, the Angels suffered an 8-1 loss to the Cubs in the makeup of a snowout on April 14.
With a chance to get back to .500 after winning five of six, the Angels never had much of a chance in this one.
The offense, after scoring 13 runs Sunday at Seattle, managed just one run on four hits in seven innings against Cubs starter Jon Lester (4-4).
“A big part of the game was Lester,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “He used his fastball and cutter on both sides of the plate and mixed in an occasional curveball and changeup, and had very good command.
“He’s been very good for a long time for a reason.”
Angels right-hander Trevor Cahill (2-6) got off to a fast start after entering the game in the second inning, following Cam Bedrosian's clean inning as the opener. Cahill retired the first six batters he faced, and no one hit the ball out of the infield.
But things began unraveling after that. Cahill allowed five runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings against his former team.
“I actually thought he pitched pretty well,” Ausmus said. “A break here or there and it’s a different game.”
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Javier Baez and then scored five times in the sixth to put the game away.
Kris Bryant led the inning off with a walk, and one out later advanced to second on a wild pitch. Baez then hit a grounder down the left-field line -- the ball ticked off the bag -- to score Bryant and make it 2-0.
After Carlos Gonzalez -- making his Cubs debut -- walked, Willson Contreras hit a liner to center. Mike Trout came in and appeared in position to make the catch, but the ball hit off his glove for a single to load the bases.
Justin Anderson replaced Cahill and immediately gave up a two-run double down the right-field line to Jason Heyward. Addison Russell made it 5-0 with a sacrifice fly, and Kyle Schwarber -- following a walk to Lester -- capped the rally with a run-scoring single for a 6-0 lead.
The Angels loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh and appeared on the verge of getting back in the game when Jonathan Lucroy hit a liner toward the right-center gap. Gonzalez, though, raced back and made a diving catch on the warning track. Instead of a bases-clearing extra-base hit, Lucroy had to settle for a sacrifice fly to make it 6-1.
“A potential momentum-shifter for us, and he shut it down,” Ausmus said.
“Lester made a pretty good pitch on me, a changeup off the plate away, and I was kind of diving, trying to just put the ball in play in the air somewhere,” Lucroy said. “I hit it pretty good. CarGo had a great bead on it and made a great play. Having played with him in Colorado, he’s made plays like that before, so it’s not a surprise.”
Kole Calhoun followed with a walk to load the bases again, but Lester escaped further damage by striking out Taylor Ward, who was called up earlier in the day.
Baez and Contreras added solo homers in the seventh off reliever Luis Garcia to cap the scoring.
Despite the seven-run spread, the Angels believe the game turned on a couple of close plays.
“That ball that Jason [Heyward] hit down the line was barely fair from my angle,” Lucroy said. “[Gonzalez] made that play in the outfield. An inch or two here or there … that’s the way the game went for us today.”