PHOENIX — Sam Aldegheri hopes his performances this month will be enough to keep him in the Angels’ starting rotation for a while, but he put his team in an early hole in an 8-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon.
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Aldegheri (2-2) lasted just three innings and gave up six runs, including a grand slam to Corbin Carroll during a five-run second inning as Arizona won the rubber game of the three-game series.
Shortstop Zach Neto led off the game with a solo homer for the Angels – his 15th long ball of the season and second in two days, but the Angels couldn’t string together any rallies against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (6-2), who scattered six hits and three walks over seven innings while earning his 100th career win.
Aldegheri pitcher 6⅓ innings of strong relief over two appearances earlier this month before making his second start of the season and seventh of his three-year career last Friday against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.
He held the Rays to two runs (one earned) and three hits in five innings in a 4-3 win, with four strikeouts and three walks. That performance put him in position to possibly keep a spot in the rotation for a while, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said.
“He certainly made a case,” Suzuki said last week. “He pitched his butt off (against the Rays) and definitely put himself in the conversation.”
Aldegheri found early trouble in this one.
He stranded two runners in the first before the Diamondbacks scored five runs with two outs in the second.
Ildemaro Vargas was on first when Tommy Troy hit a line drive over the head of Jose Siri in center field, and the ball took an odd bounce off the wall, resulting in an RBI triple that tied the score at 1-all.
Aldegheri then loaded the bases with a walk and hit batter, bringing up Carroll, who launched 1-and-1 changeup just into the seats in right for a 5-1 lead. It was Carroll’s 13th homer of the season.
Jordan Lawlar doubled with one out in the third and Troy came through with a two-out single into shallow right-center and just out of the reach of shortstop Oswald Peraza, extending the lead to 6-1.
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Ketel Marte drove in two more in the fifth with a two-out, two-run double off Brett Kerry, who was making his MLB debut, stretching the lead to 8-1.
Troy and Marte each produced two hits, two RBIs and a run scored, Lawlar had two hits and scored two runs, and Gabriel Moreno delivered three hits and reached base four times for the Diamondbacks, who have won three of four.
Rodriguez, who was pulled last Friday after needing 85 pitches to go 2⅔ innings in a 5-2 win in Cincinnati, got inning-ending double plays in the first and third before Jo Adell hit into another after the Angels put their first two batters on base in the sixth.
Rodriguez struck out five and lowered his ERA to 2.45 for the season. The veteran left-hander became just the ninth Venezuelan-born pitcher to reach 100 wins in the major leagues.
ANGELS ACTIVATE GRISSOM, DFA MANCINI
The Angels activated infielder Vaughn Grissom from the injured list before Wednesday’s game, while infielder Trey Mancini was designated for assignment.
Grissom, 25, was retroactively placed on the IL to June 5 with a left oblique strain. He was batting .246 with four home runs and 27 RBIs in 40 games, while making starts at first base, second base and third base.
Mancini, 34, was placed on the active roster on June 8 after not playing in the major leagues since 2023 when he was a member of the Chicago Cubs. He was 4 for 13 (.308) in five games for the Angels with a triple and four RBIs.
Mancini missed the entire 2020 season as he battled Stage 3 colon cancer. He did not play at all in 2024 and saw action in 74 Triple-A games in the Diamondbacks’ organization in 2025. He signed a minor-league deal with the Angels in February.
In 836 games over eight seasons, Mancini is a career .263 hitter with 129 home runs and 404 RBIs for the Baltimore Orioles (2016-19, 21-22), Houston Astros (2022), Cubs and Angels. He finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2017.
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UP NEXT
Angels (TBA) at Athletics (TBA), Thursday, 6:40 p.m. ABTV, 830 AM