ANAHEIM – As good as Garrett Richards has been for the past two months, his performance tonight was a reminder that he still needs some polish.
Richards gave up seven runs and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning of the Angels’ 10-5 loss to the Oakland A’s at Angel Stadium.
Richards came into the game with a 2.90 ERA in his 11 starts since rejoining the rotation on July 27, as he finally found the consistency he had lacked in previous turns in the starting rotation. The performance was good enough that general manager Jerry Dipoto said he’s earned a spot in the 2014 rotation.
Facing the same team he had pitched seven impressive innings against last week, though, Richards gave up the most runs he had allowed since April. He had given up more than three runs in only two of his last 11 starts.
“It’s part of the learning curve,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s part of a guy getting his first opportunity. If you look at everything Garrett has done since he got back in the rotation, you have to be excited about the progress he’s made. Tonight is one we are going to turn the page on.”
The big blow was a three-run homer by Jed Lowrie in the third. Richards was chased shortly after allowing a Brandon Moss two-run homer in the fifth.
The Moss homer came on a changeup, which is a pitch that Richards has been trying to develop. He said he was mostly pleased with the changeups he threw.
Overall, he was frustrated that he didn’t pitch well, but he didn’t let it detract from what he’s done over the past two months.
“I’m not discouraged by it,” he said. “I’m going to keep moving forward. I wouldn’t take it as a step back. It would just take it as a day I didn’t have it.”
The Angels hung around in the game, thanks to Howie Kendrick’s best game since returning from a month out with a hypertextended knee. Kendrick hit his 12th homer of the season – his first since July 6 – and narrowly missed a grand slam, instead driving in three with a double to pull the Angels within 5-4 in the third.
Mark Trumbo drove in his 99th run of the season with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
At the other end of the spectrum was Mike Trout, who struck out in all three of his plate appearances against A’s starter Tommy Milone. Trout is 3 for 16 with six strikeouts in his career against Milone. Trout is in a 7 for 42 (.167) slump.
“He’s just a little bit out of synch,” Scioscia said. “Maybe he’s getting a little tired. It’s that time of year. He’s been grinding and playing hard. We’ll look at where he is tomorrow.”
Tommy Hanson made his first appearance for the Angels since he spent a month at Triple-A to try to get himself straightened out. Hanson pitched two perfect innings, but then he was charged with two runs in his third inning.
Scioscia said the results were reminiscent of Hanson’s July 23 start, when he had better velocity and command than at any other time this season. It is the promise of that game he’s been chasing ever since.
“Tommy looked great,” Scioscia said. “Tommy looked like he did when he came off the DL (in July). His motion looked good. The ball was coming out really strong. He showed good stuff. That was one of the bright spots tonight, seeing Tommy’s motion back in synch.”
