Angels’ bullpen blows lead for 2nd straight game

CHICAGO — Although the Angels have more bullpen problems than just Drew Pomeranz, he has put himself at the top of the list.

The veteran left-hander suffered a blown save by giving up a home run to a lefty for the second straight day. This time he allowed a crushing seventh-inning three-run homer that sent the Angels on their way to an 8-7 loss to the Chicago White Sox in a game that began after a 3-hour rain delay on Monday and ended at 12:34 a.m., local time, on Tuesday.

When Angels manager Kurt Suzuki was asked flatly if he’s now concerned about Pomeranz, he didn’t hesitate.

“Yeah,” Suzuki said. “Yeah, obviously. He gave up the homer yesterday and again today. We gotta see what’s going on. Figure out the solution and take care of it.”

Pomeranz said he actually worked with the coaches on some adjustments earlier on Monday, in the wake of Sunday’s disappointing outing. Just after allowing a go-ahead three-run homer to Munetaka Murakami, the Japanese slugger who has hit 12 homers in his first month in the majors, Pomeranz gave up another homer to right-handed hitter Miguel Vargas.

“We had some conversations today about mechanical stuff and I thought I made some good corrections,” Pomeranz said. “Just made a couple pitches that they hit hard and hit out. I don’t know. It’s frustrating for sure. I mean it’s two days in a row. Coming in tough spots, but I’m here to get out of tough spots. I’m here to face lefties in tough spots and it’s sucked the last two days.”

Pomeranz, 37, had not allowed a homer to a lefty since 2019, but he’s now done it on consecutive days. On Sunday, he gave up the last two runs of what had been a six-run lead when he gave up a ninth-inning homer to Jac Caglianone of the Kansas City Royals. The Angels lost that game in 10 innings.

“I don’t think I’ve had this much of a bad streak in my career being 100% healthy, minus times I’ve pitched through stuff,” he said.

The Angels (12-18) have now lost four in a row, with a blowout coming just before the two bullpen disasters. Two weeks ago, they blew two ninth-inning leads at Yankee Stadium.

Pomeranz was responsible for the two most recent blown saves, although he wasn’t the only ineffective reliever either day.

On Monday night, starter Jack Kochanowicz had pitched six strong innings when he took the mound in the seventh with a 5-1 lead. He induced a routine ground ball to start the inning, but shortstop Zach Neto let it go under his glove, for an error. After a bunt single, Suzuki pulled Kochanowicz at 90 pitches.

“His pitch count was getting up there and we just felt like things were kind of starting to snowball a little bit, with the error and then the bunt,” Suzuki said. “We felt like it was the right time to take him out. And it backfired, obviously. Hindsight is always 20/20, you know. We made the decision and we stuck with it and, we believe that was the right call.”

Right-hander Nick Sandlin, who did not pitch in Sunday’s game, didn’t retire any of the three hitters he faced. He allowed two hits and hit a batter, as three runs scored. Sandlin had stranded all six of the runners he had inherited this season, prior to Monday’s game.

At that point, the Angels were still up 5-4 and Murakami was stepping up to the plate.

Suzuki went to Pomeranz. On 2-and-2 count, Pomeranz threw a 93 mph fastball at the bottom of the zone, over the middle of the plate, and Murakami drilled it over the right field fence, for a three-run homer to give the White Sox the lead.

That spoiled the work of Kochanowicz, who cruised through his first six innings. He worked around two hits in the first inning, and he gave up a run on two hits in the fifth. Otherwise, he faced just three or four batters in his other four innings.

Kochanowicz said he felt he could have kept going past 90 pitches.

“You always want to stay in there, for sure,” Kochanowicz said. “If you ask me, I’ve always got more in the tank. It’s not my call, though. It is what it is.”

He said all the things a good teammate should say about about what happened after he left.

“It’s just baseball,” he said. “There’s gonna be days like that. There’s gonna be days where I have a terrible day and the bullpen picks me up and the offense picks me up. It’s just part of it.”

The offense did its part on Monday. The Angels collected 14 hits and nearly mounted their own winning rally in the ninth.

Down 8-5 when the inning began, Jorge Soler drove in a run with a groundout, adding to his sacrifice fly and homer from earlier in the game. Nolan Schanuel then blooped a double into left, knocking in another run. The Angels had runners at second and third, just a single away from taking the lead, when Adam Frazier grounded out to end the game.

“These guys get down and they keep coming back,” Suzuki said. “They get down and they keep coming back. Really just a heartbreaking loss again. We just gotta see what we did wrong, learn from it, and move on to tomorrow.”