ANAHEIM — The Angels’ sluggish offense didn’t give enough of a cushion for their short-handed bullpen to get the job done on Wednesday afternoon.
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The Angels took a three-run lead in the second inning, but they managed just one hit after that, and the relievers gave up a run in the eighth and two in the ninth in a 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
With their fourth straight loss, the Angels (52-82) ensured their 11th consecutive losing season. It was the 10th game this season that the Angels lost when leading after eight innings.
Right-hander Ryan Watson, who got the call in the ninth because Ben Joyce was unavailable after pitching on Tuesday night, allowed the final two runs.
With one out, Watson gave up three straight hits to Chase DeLauter, Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan, tying the game. Travis Bazzana hit a sacrifice fly to give the Guardians the lead.
Watson, who was claimed on waivers earlier this month, had allowed just one earned run in his first 6⅓ innings with the Angels, which allowed him to climb the bullpen depth chart.
Luke Murphy, who was in Double-A last month, gave up an RBI single in the eighth inning, trimming the Angels lead to 3-2.
The Angels didn’t have many bullpen choices because of their workload from the previous three games.
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The bullpen failure cost Grayson Rodriguez a victory on a day when he gave up one run in 5⅔ innings.
The hitters did little to support him, though.
The Angels had only two hits in six innings against left-hander Joey Cantillo, and both came in the first inning. The second hit was Vaughn Grissom’s dribbler in front of the plate, and the Angels parlayed that into a run when Cantillo fielded it and chucked it down the right field line.
After that, Cantillo handed the Angels two runs with his wildness. In the second inning he walked three and hit a batter, leading to the Angels taking a 3-0 lead.
They didn’t get another runner in scoring position until the ninth. They put their leadoff man on in the third and fifth, but both times they hit into double plays. Josh Lowe reached on an infield single to begin the ninth and stole second base with one out, but Travis d’Arnaud struck out and Oswald Peraza popped up to end the game.
It spoiled a solid start from Rodriguez, who now has a 2.93 ERA in five August starts, with 29 strikeouts in 27⅔ innings.
Rodriguez pounded the strike zone, not issuing his only walk until the sixth inning. He struck out four.
The Guardians hit some balls hard and collected seven hits, but he spaced them out enough to stay out of trouble. In the third inning, he got a break when José Ramirez hit a 105.6 mph line drive that hit Travis Bazzana, who was running between first and second. Bazzana was called out, ending the inning.
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More to come on this story.