Starter Walbert Ureña knocked out by line drive as Angels lose 7th straight

ANAHEIM — The Angels have been playing enough bad baseball that the last thing they need is to add bad luck to the mix.

Right-hander Walbert Ureña was pitching a shutout in the sixth inning when he was hit in the side of the right knee by a 103 mph comebacker. He came out of the game, but just suffered a bruise.

That opened the door for a rough sequence for the embattled Angels’ bullpen on their way to a 4-3 loss to the New York Mets on Friday night.

The Angels (12-21) have lost seven in a row, and they had a lead in the sixth inning or later in four of the last five.

“We’re in a rut right now and I’m right at the heart of it and I take accountability for my efforts here,” said left-hander Brent Suter, who gave up two hits after Ureña left in the sixth, contributing to the blown three-run lead. “I feel like I’m attacking, throwing the ball better. I think a lot of us are throwing the ball better than the results show, honestly, and it’s just not happening right now. What we can’t do is fold the tent. Can’t do it. This is too hard of a league to fold the tent. We got to stay the course, keep fighting, keep wanting the ball, and and then it’ll turn around, but it’s heavy right now, for sure.”

The only good news was that Ureña was not seriously hurt.

“Feels good,” Ureña said. “Not bad. I’m walking good, so just day-to-day.”

Ureña, who threw a couple of warm-up pitches after he was hit, said he was actually trying to stay in the game. Manager Kurt Suzuki said he and pitching coach Mike Maddux briefly considered leaving him in the game.

“I think at the end of the day, more for his sake, we’ve got to protect him from himself, which is what Maddux said too,” Suzuki said.

At the start of the inning, the Angels were up 3-0 and Ureña had only thrown 67 pitches.

After Ureña came out, Suter was called from the bullpen, with Mets star left-handed hitter Juan Soto due. Soto yanked a ground ball through the right side, for a single. An out later, Suter gave up another single. A ground ball then moved both runners into scoring position.

With right-handed hitting Marcus Semien due, Suzuki brought in right-hander Chase Silseth, who he favors to get out of jams.

Silseth gave up a single up the middle, knocking in both runs. Silseth has entered games with 19 runners on base this season and he’s allowed nine of them to score.

“It looked like just a couple two-strike pitches they left up in the zone,” Suzuki said. “Right now, when we’re making those mistakes, we’re paying the price.”

Right-hander José Fermin then gave up a solo homer to No. 9 hitter Ronny Mauricio in the seventh, putting the Mets ahead, 4-3.

A one-run deficit should not have been insurmountable, but the Angels’ hitters disappeared after the first inning.

Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer in the first inning, his seventh of the year. Nolan Schanuel followed with a single.

After that, the Angels didn’t have another hit.

They scored a run in the third because Zach Neto was hit by a pitch, stole second base, stole third and came home on a throwing error. After that, they didn’t have anyone reach base over the final six innings.

Over the last three games, the Angels have scored a total of seven runs and managed only 11 hits.

“Rough stretch right now, going through a little funk,” Suzuki said. “But thinking back, just recently as 10 days ago maybe, even before, these guys were lighting the world on fire. We just gotta stay with the process of what we’re doing and eventually they’ll snap out of this. Hopefully sooner than later.”

While the bullpen and the hitters faltered, it was at least a positive night for Ureña until the comebacker.

He’s now pitched well in two of his three starts. He gave up two runs in six innings in his first start, before getting knocked out in the fourth inning last time.

This time he didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning. In that inning he also walked two, loading the bases, before getting out of the jam when right fielder Jo Adell made a nice running catch.

Ureña added a perfect fifth.

“He was awesome,” Suzuki said. “You can kind of see him settling in a little bit now, a few starts under his belt, kind of the pressure or the anxiety of going out there. You see him kind of moving slower. It’s fun to watch when he’s kind of like this.”