This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Heading into the middle contest of a three-game series against the host Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Angels continue to struggle on offense.
After falling 5-3 on Monday, the Angels have scored fewer than four runs in seven straight games, losing six of them.
Prior to his team’s latest defeat, Los Angeles manager Ron Washington discussed lineup options.
“I’ve been shaking the lineup up enough,” he said. “I’ve got one right now that I’m going with and we’ve just got to wait and see what happens. It’s going to be up to those guys.”
Taylor Ward, after batting third or fourth most of the year, led off for the fourth straight game on Monday. Nolan Schanuel, the leadoff man much of the season, hit third for the fourth straight game.
“I didn’t know this, but Schanuel likes to hit third,” Washington said. “We’ve been trying to search for a third-place hitter. He may stay there another week and change again. That’s just the nature of the players that I have right now. Taylor loves hitting first and Schanuel loves hitting third, and because they love doing it, hopefully that equates to some production.”
On Monday, Ward went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and Schanuel finished 1-for-4. Ward is a career .260 hitter from the leadoff spot. Schanuel has six hits in 16 career at-bats (.375) hitting third.
On the mound, the Angels will turn to left-hander Tyler Anderson (9-11, 3.30 ERA) on Tuesday. His .215 opponents’ batting average ranks sixth best in the American League.
Anderson has lost three of his past four starts. He surrendered two homers and a season-high seven runs over 5 2/3 innings in a 9-2 loss to the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
In six career starts against the Royals, Anderson is 2-2 with a 4.25 ERA. He threw 6 2/3 innings against Kansas City in a May 11 win, allowing three runs on seven hits. Hunter Renfroe has one hit in 15 at-bats against Anderson, while Salvador Perez is 5-for-17 with three doubles, a home run and four RBIs vs. the lefty.
Left-hander Cole Ragans (10-7, 3.18 ERA) opposes Anderson in a rematch of the May 11 game. In that contest, Ragans matched a season high with seven runs allowed, over 6 1/3 innings. He served up a three-run homer to Jo Adell, who has three hits in seven at-bats against Ragans, all for extra bases.
In five career appearances — three starts — against the Angels, Ragans is 0-2 with a 5.85 ERA.
However, Ragans has won each of his past three starts overall and five of his past six. He allowed a run on five hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings as Kansas City salvaged the finale of a series in Minnesota on Wednesday.
Ragans ranks fifth in the majors with 174 strikeouts, and his 17 quality starts are tied for seventh.
He will hope for offensive support from Paul DeJong. Since joining the Royals on July 30, the third baseman is hitting .316 with eight RBIs and five extra-base hits — four in the past four games.
“It’s given me a lot of life to come here every day and compete with these guys,” he said. “They’ve had their culture all year and they’ve been doing well, but for me to be able step in and do what I can do and bring something to this team just makes coming to the ballpark a lot more fun.”
DeJong reflected on his previous pennant-race experience with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“You have to focus on the moment,” he said. “Each game from now on matters a lot. (You have) to really be able to slow things down and enjoy each day and know there’s not too many games left, so we’ve just got to lock in as much as we can while we’re here.”
–Field Level Media
