Angels’ 7th-inning meltdown leads to loss against Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A nice tidy game turned ugly in a hurry for the Angels on Friday night.

The Angels brought a one-run lead into the seventh inning, and then just about everything went wrong in a seven-run inning that sent them to an 8-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

There were bad pitches, an error and even a missed challenge that opened the door for all of it.

Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn took the mound to start the inning with a 2-1 lead after Walbert Ureña had pitched six strong innings.

Zeferjahn walked No. 9 hitter Cedric Mullins to start the inning, always an ominous sign. Zeferjahn then got ahead of Yandy Diaz, 0-and-2, and he threw him a fastball on the outside corner. It was called a ball. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe didn’t challenge, even though the Angels had both of their challenges available.

“Of course you want that one back,” O’Hoppe said.

O’Hoppe has been right on 60% of his challenges this season, which is slightly better than the major league average of 58% for catchers.

“There might have been a good spot to challenge, two strikes, at that spot,” Manager Kurt Suzuki said. “But he’s been pretty good challenging. You trust him. He felt like it was a ball.”

On the next pitch, Zeferjahn hung a sweeper over the middle and Diaz hit a two-run homer. Zeferjahn hung another sweeper to Jonathan Aranda, who hit another homer.

Zeferjahn had struggled earlier in the season, when the Angels were using him for multiple innings. This was a rare outing in which he didn’t have it from the start. Zeferjahn was charged with four runs.

“I feel like I’m just kind of not finishing right now,” Zeferjahn said. “Things are up, pulling things. Just all out of whack. I thought I got back on path yesterday a little bit. Felt a little better. But the leadoff walk and then everything, two sweepers that are up, not finishing anything, it’s getting me hurt.”

The inning got out of hand with left-hander Brent Suter on the mound. Rays speedster Chandler Simpson dropped down a bunt and rushed the Angels into an error. Suter then gave up back-to-back hits as the Rays blew the game open.

“One bad inning,” Suzuki said. “A walk and then two homers and that kind of started the inning off and then it was just what Tampa does. They put pressure on you. They can run. They bunt. They do all that type of stuff. It was hard to get it stopped.”

It all ruined a nice performance from Ureña, who cut his ERA to 2.53 in eight starts. The 22-year-old right-hander had allowed two runs or fewer in seven of them.

Ureña gave up a homer to Diaz on his second pitch of the night. Ureña threw a 1-and-0 sinker over the middle and Diaz lifted it to the opposite field, just over the right field fence.

That was the only blemish of the night for Ureña, who got out of a few jams through the rest of his six innings.

The Rays had two runners on in the third, fourth and sixth innings. In the fourth, the first two batters of the inning reached, on a bunt single and an infield single. Ureña responded with a strikeout and a double play.

“I thought Walby pitched unbelievable,” Suzuki said. “The composure that he had. He got into jams, got himself out of there. Big pitches, execution. That’s the kind of stuff that we were talking about earlier in the game, right? He showed tonight that he’s mature. It was fun to watch him pitch tonight.”

The Angels (22-36) had a decent night at the plate, too, mostly by hitting the ball the other way.

Both of Zach Neto’s hits went to right field. He doubled into right center and then scored the Angels’ first run of the game on a Vaughn Grissom two-out single in the third. Two innings later, Neto drove in José Siri with a single into right.

“Everyday we’re trying to use the whole field,” Suzuki said. “We’re trying to, at certain times, certain type of pitches, let the ball travel a little bit more, and and use the whole whole field, especially with two strikes, try to see the ball a little bit longer. The guys have been working really hard on it. Credit to them. Credit to the hitting coaches. The hitting coaches have been really emphasizing it. Credit to the players going out and doing it. It was a great collaborative effort, and it’s nice to see some results.”

The next three runs the Angels scored were in the eighth, just after the Rays took a six-run lead. The Angels took advantage of the fact that the Rays had the margin to start the inning with Hunter Bigge, a reliever with a 5.59 ERA.

The Angels loaded the bases in the ninth against Rays closer Bryan Baker. Grissom popped out to end it.