Carlos Estévez suffers 3rd blown save of season in Angels’ loss to Royals
ANAHEIM — When Carlos Estevez let go of the pitch, he had an idea that something bad was about to happen.
“As soon as I let it go, I felt I pulled it a little,” the Angels’ closer said. “It cut on me. That’s the only spot he could have done that, down the line like that.”
“He” was Adam Frazier, and he had just hit a two-run homer to cost Estévez his third blown save of the season in the Angels’ crushing 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Up until that moment, the Angels had gotten outstanding pitching from starter Griffin Canning and relievers Adam Cimber, Matt Moore and Luis Garcia. They had to get three more outs to continue to hold the one-run lead, and Estévez couldn’t do it.
Estévez recorded the first out of the ninth, but then he gave up a single to MJ Melendez. He threw a 2-and-0 fastball that was supposed to be away, but it was inside, and Frazier yanked it just inside the right field pole.
“After the way the guys pitched, come on, that can’t happen out there,” Estévez said.
It was the third blown save of the season for Estévez in nine tries. He has a 6.17 ERA, and Angels fans showered him with boos before he got the final out of the ninth inning.
Estévez said he hasn’t lost his confidence, though, primarily because of the way he’s been beaten. He has still not walked a batter in 11⅔ innings. He has struck out 14.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Estévez said. “I just fill up the strike zone as best as I can with quality pitches.”
Manager Ron Washington also said he still has confidence in Estévez, despite his rough start.
Washington had other things to lament from a loss that dropped the Angels (14-25) a season-worst 11 games under .500. Mostly, it was the Angels’ lack of production at the plate.
While their injury-ravaged lineup was going to be challenged to score much, they had chances to get more than one run on a Jo Adell fifth-inning homer.
In the second inning, the Angels had a runner at second with no outs, but then Matt Thaiss, Adell and Zach Neto all struck out.
The Angels got a leadoff double from Luis Guillorme in the third, and this time they got the runner to third on a ground ball, but they still couldn’t get him in. The Angels tried a suicide squeeze and Mickey Moniak popped up the bunt, hitting into a double play.
“We had plenty of chances,” Washington said. “We blew one in the third inning with a squeeze. We had other opportunities with runners in scoring position, we just didn’t deliver. One run is hard to hold on to, but we had an opportunity to hold on to it and we didn’t.”
The failure cost Canning a victory in a game when he worked 5⅔ innings, in his best start of the season. Canning now has a 3.67 ERA over his last five starts, and he’s allowed just two runs in 11⅔ innings in his last two starts.
He said the difference has been focusing more on battling against the hitter instead of thinking so much about his own mechanics to produce the perfect pitch.
“Good ones to build off,” Canning said. “I’m just trying to focus on me vs. the hitters, and focusing on attacking the zone.”
Canning left with a 1-0 lead and two runners on in the sixth, but the bullpen preserved the lead into the ninth.
Right-hander Adam Cimber was the first pitcher out of the bullpen, and he struck out the only hitter he faced.
Cimber has been the Angels’ best reliever all season, posting a 2.65 ERA. He has entered with 10 runners on base and he has stranded all of them.
Left-hander Matt Moore then got through the seventh, working around a hit and a walk. Right hander Luis Garcia then pitched a perfect eighth. Garcia has not allowed a run – or a run by an inherited runner – in 14 of the 17 games he’s pitched.
Estévez couldn’t get the final three outs with the lead, though, which cost Canning a victory.
“It’s a matter of me not missing that pitch,” Estévez said. “I was making some pretty good pitches before and after that. That’s the part that makes me mad. After the way the guys pitched like that, I couldn’t deliver. That’s baseball.”