SAN FRANCISCO — A nice comeback for the Angels turned into just another frustrating loss.
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After trailing by four runs in the fourth inning, the Angels tied the San Francisco Giants in the eighth, only to lose, 7-6, in the 10th inning on Friday night.
In the bottom of the 10th, Giants contact specialist Luis Arraez led off by poking a single into left field, sending the automatic runner to third. The Angels got the first out on a comebacker fielded by pitcher Chase Silseth.
Silseth then walked Bryce Eldridge to load the bases for Rafael Devers. He hit a fly ball over the head of left fielder Wade Meckler as the winning run scored. The ball bounced over the fence, but Devers was not credited with a ground-rule double because the runner who started at second never came home.
The Angels had come up empty in their chance to score in the top of the inning, including a questionable decision from pinch-runner Oswald Peraza.
Peraza was thrown out trying to take third on a fly ball to center field, ending the inning. Although it did take a perfect throw from center fielder Grant McCray to get him, in that situation the runner shouldn’t tag up unless he is guaranteed to be safe.
“I think in this case he he probably thought he had a good chance, almost 100% chance to get third base,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He made that read himself. The guy made a perfect throw and got him out.”
The Angels trailed 5-1 in the fourth after a poor start from Grayson Rodriguez, but they tied the game by the eighth.
In the fifth, Jo Adell and Denzer Guzman each singled. No. 9 hitter Tyler Heineman then launched a ball just in front of the 415-foot marker in the cavernous right-center field gap at Oracle Park.
In San Francisco, they call it Triples Alley, because even a catcher can get a triple when he hits the ball there. Heineman’s triple drove in two. Heineman then scored on a Mike Trout fly ball to left, cutting the deficit to 5-4.
Although the Giants got one of those runs back in the seventh, the Angels still tied the game, 6-6, in the eighth.
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Jorge Soler singled off the wall in right field, and Vaughn Grissom then hit a homer — his sixth of the season — into the left field bleachers.
With that, Rodriguez was spared a loss on a night that he endured another rough outing in what has been a disappointing return to the mound for him.
In his ninth start of the season, Rodriguez gave up five runs in four innings.
Rodriguez, who missed nearly two years with various injuries, has an 8.54 ERA. He’s shown glimpses of the stuff that once made him one of the game’s best young pitchers, but mostly getting buried by command issues.
Despite the poor results, he felt there were some positives.
“I think my delivery was much better,” Rodriguez said. “The line doesn’t really show any progress that was made. But for me this was a big week and kind of getting back into a delivery that I had in ’24. And the bullpen leading up to this was good and then tonight I felt like I did those things right.”
He was done in on Friday night by two homers. In the first inning, Rafael Devers got a fastball over the middle and he hit an opposite-field two-run homer just inside the left field pole.
In the third, Rodriguez got the first two outs. He then left another fastball in the heart of the zone, and Bryce Eldridge cranked a double into the gap. After he fell behind Devers, 2-and-0, the Angels intentionally walked him. Rodriguez then gave up a three-run homer to Casey Schmidt.
“There was a couple pitches like, the two homers obviously,” Rodriguez said. “A two-run and a three-run shot. That’s not going to give your team a good chance to win. But there were a lot of good pitches that were made. Better sliders and better changeups and better curveballs than I’ve thrown pretty much all year. Obviously, I’m pretty upset about that outing. That sucks. It’s been tough because this is not how I pitch. This is not the standard that I hold myself to. But being able to take (positives) out of it, you just got to keep stacking it. Like I said, the stuff was better. The stuff was there. Just a couple pitches that bit us in the butt.”
The Angels hitters and bullpen combined to get Rodriguez off the hook for a loss.
While the hitters sprang to life, relievers Brent Suter, José Fermin, Kirby Yates, Samy Natera Jr. and Ryan Zeferjahn held the Giants to just one run over five innings, sending the game to the 10th inning.
Silseth ultimately took the loss because he couldn’t get Eldridge or Devers.
“Two tough lefties coming up,” Suzuki said. “It’s like pick your poison. Devers, the guy’s making $300 million to do that, driving in runs. Tough night.”
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