TORONTO — The question hanging over Jack Kochanowicz early in his career was whether he could really be a successful pitcher without racking up strikeouts.
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At times, he’s beaten the odds. Saturday was not one of those times.
The Angels lost 14-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays, with a series of soft hits and defensive misplays leading to a seven-run fifth inning that essentially ended the game.
The Angels (15-25) still might have lost because their hitters, who have been in a collective slump for most of the past two weeks, missed some early opportunities while it was still a close game.
Kochanowicz was in the midst of what had been a typical game for him this season. He had allowed one run through the first four innings, even though he hadn’t struck out anyone.
Coming into the game, Kochanowicz had a 17% strikeout rate, which is below the major-league average of 22%. He’d gotten away with it because opponents were hitting .225 on balls in play, well below the major-league average of .290.
Some of that was luck of hard-hit balls going at fielders, but it’s also because Kochanowicz was keeping balls on the ground and away from barrels.
In the fifth inning, when the Blue Jays were getting their third look at him, everything bad that could happen did.
Kochanowicz started the inning by walking Addison Barger. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto followed with consecutive soft singles, pushing home one run.
Jesus Sanchez then hit a pop fly down the left-field line. It dropped just between left fielder Josh Lowe, third baseman Yoán Moncada and shortstop Zach Neto.
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Daulton Varsho then hit a comebacker to Kochanowicz, who made a bad throw to first, for an error.
After that, Ernie Clement hit a hard ground ball that skipped past Moncada. It was ruled a hit, but it should have been an out.
And that was the end of the the day for Kochanowicz, who had two more runs added to his line when reliever Mitch Farris gave up a three-run homer to No. 9 hitter Brandon Valenzuela. Kochanowicz was charged with seven runs, six earned, in four innings.
The Angels ended up using infielder Adam Frazier to pitch the eighth, and he gave up another four runs.
Although the game ended up being a blowout loss, it began with the Angels actually having the better scoring chances.
Facing Toronto right-hander Trey Yesavage, the Angels had runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings.
In the second, Jorge Soler was nailed at home by Barger, who made a perfect throw from right field after catching a fly ball. The Angels put their first two runners on in the third, but Neto and Mike Trout struck out and Nolan Schanuel hit a fly ball to the warning track.
Catcher Sebastian Rivero worked an 11-pitch at-bat with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth. The last pitch, which would have been a run-scoring walk if he’d taken it, was instead pounded into the ground for an inning-ending double play.
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More to come on this story.