Grayson Rodriguez gave the Angels exactly what they needed Wednesday afternoon at Angel Stadium: a steady start, some length, and a real chance to finish off the Guardians.
Instead, it slipped away late.
Rodriguez worked 5 2/3 innings in the eventual 4-3 loss, allowing one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out four. He left with a one-run lead, but Ryan Watson gave up two runs in the ninth and couldn’t lock it down, handing the Angels their 10th loss of the year after leading after eight innings.
“It’s definitely tough, obviously,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “But it is what it is. The game moves on, and you've got to turn the page, go to the next day, and prepare to win the next one.”
For Rodriguez, though, the outing fit a bigger trend. After his best start of the season last week in Houston - two unearned runs over seven innings - he followed it with another encouraging performance against Cleveland.
August has been his best month by far, with a 2.93 ERA, 29 strikeouts and 10 walks in 27 2/3 innings. That’s a meaningful step for a pitcher trying to regain his footing after missing all of last season because of a right lat strain and bone chips removed from his right elbow in August.
“It feels like I'm starting to get back to my old self,” Rodriguez said. “Just being in the zone with the heater, being able to throw it pretty much in any count. Offspeed's getting a little bit better, but there's some things we need to work on still.”
The road back has been messy. Rodriguez opened the year on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation, didn’t make his debut until May 17, then returned to the IL from June 15 to July 10 because of lower back stiffness. So even with the bumps, the goal now is simple: finish the season strong.
Acquired in an offseason trade with the Orioles for outfielder Taylor Ward, Rodriguez remains under team control for three more seasons. For this year, the focus has been less about results in the standings and more about proving he can stay on the mound.
“He battled,” Suzuki said. “He pounded the strike zone. I thought he did a great job of attacking the zone and executing his pitches.”
Rodriguez didn’t have a clean inning all afternoon and had to keep working out of trouble. In the first, he got former teammate Jo Adell to ground into an inning-ending double play with two runners aboard. In the third, he got a break when José Ramírez lined a ball that hit Travis Bazzana as he tried to move from first to second, ending the inning.
The only run Rodriguez allowed came in the fifth. Brayan Rocchio opened the frame with a double on a liner to left that Jose Siri misplayed in center field, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Bazzana. Rodriguez answered by striking out Ramírez to limit the damage.
His night ended with two outs in the sixth and a runner on first, at 92 pitches. The Angels went to left-hander Sammy Peralta to face the switch-hitting Angel Genao, and Peralta handled that matchup before throwing a clean seventh.
But after allowing a leadoff single in the eighth, the game turned again once he exited, and Cleveland eventually tied it at 3-3 before Watson surrendered the go-ahead runs in the ninth. Steven Kwan delivered the key blow with an RBI ground-rule double.
“I just didn’t execute pitches and that’s the bottom line,” Watson said. “Can't go out there and expect to put up zeros with leaving pitches over the middle of a plate.”
Rodriguez had the lead for most of his outing thanks to an Angels offense that scored in the first on a wild play sparked by a throwing error from lefty Joey Cantillo and added two more runs in the second without recording a hit in the inning. But the bats went quiet after that, with the Angels finishing with only three hits and getting their only knock after the first inning on Josh Lowe’s leadoff single in the ninth.
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