Patrick Sandoval (43) of the Angels pitches in the first inning against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tyler Wade (14) of the Angels and Taylor Ward (3) celebrate at home plate after Ward homered in the fourth inning scoring Wade in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Max Stassi (33) of the Angels gets high-fives in the dugout after he hit a home run to center field the lead in the seventh inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Max Stassi (33) of the Angels hits a home run in the seventh inning to take the lead in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Taylor Ward (3) of the Angels greets Shohei Ohtani (17) after he hit his second home run scoring Ward in the third inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Boys gather along the wall hoping to get an autograph before the game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels hits his second home run scoring Taylor Ward (3) in the third inning in a game against the Blue Jays in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels rounds the bases after hitting his second home run scoring Taylor Ward (3) in the third inning in a game against the Blue Jays in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Patrick Sandoval (43) of the Angels smiles after George Springer (4) of the Blue Jays was thrown out at first in the first inning of a game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tyler Wade (14) of the Angels is greeted at home plate by Shohei Ohtani (17) after scoring on a double by Taylor Ward (3) in the sixth inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Patrick Sandoval (43) of the Angels gets high-fives in the dugout after striking out Bo Bichette (11) of the Blue Jays for the third out in the first inning of a game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Matt Chapman (26) of the Blue Jays gets an embrace from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) after defeating the Angels in a game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels gets hit in the arm from a pitch by Andrew Vasquez (50) of the Blue Jays in the sixth inning in a game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brandon Marsh (16) of the Angels reacts after hitting a double in the fifth inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Taylor Ward (3) is embraced in the dugout after he homered in the fourth inning scoring Wade in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels watches the ball sail over the right field fence for a home run in the first inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the first inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the first inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels gets high-fives in the dugout after hitting a home run in the first inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Angels celebrates with Patrick Sandoval (43) in the dugout after Ohtani hit a home run in the first inning in a game against the Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
ANAHEIM — The Angels can do nothing right in the late innings these days.
The Angels blew a late lead — two of them, actually — for the third game in a row, losing a grueling 11-10 game to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve played well enough to win at least three of these games,” Manager Joe Maddon said. “We actually were in good shape for three games. And then a bunch of guys that have been really good collectively, all of a sudden, it’s difficult. And I don’t have any answers for that.”
The Angels were swept in the four-game series against Toronto, running their overall losing streak to five games. Although plenty has gone wrong lately, their biggest issue is a failure to close out games with a lead.
After trailing by four runs in the third inning, the Angels rallied on the strength of Shohei Ohtani’s second homer of the game, and a two-run Taylor Ward homer to take a 9-6 lead by the sixth.
Oliver Ortega and Ryan Tepera gave up three runs in the seventh, an inning in which they walked three.
Just after Max Stassi hit a homer to give the Angels a 10-9 lead in the bottom of the inning, Tepera and José Quijada turned that lead into a deficit.
Tepera gave up a game-tying homer to Bo Bichette. Quijada, in his first game off the injured list, gave up another run on a pair of doubles, including an opposite field grounder from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. with two outs.
“To be honest, man, it’s unacceptable,” Tepera said. “Just lack of command and walking guys. That can’t happen. We’re just not getting the job done right now. Something has to change. We’ll take the day off tomorrow and kind of reset, refresh and and you know to start over, man. We’re in a little bit of a rut right now. It is what it is. Something’s got to be better. Somebody’s got to get the job done. Go back to the drawing board.”
After Quijada left the Angels with a one-run deficit, they came up empty in the eighth and ninth to drop the agonizing game.
On Friday night, the Angels had a 3-2 lead in the seventh and they lost, with the winning run scoring on an error in the ninth. On Saturday, the Angels also blew a pair of one-run leads. They had a 2-1 lead going to the seventh and then a 4-3 lead going to the eighth.
“We are playing well, but we just have one sector having a difficult time right now,” Maddon said. “We’ve got to fix that. How do you fix that? You continue to show confidence in them. You have conversations. If there’s little tweaking to do, you do that. But these are our guys, and I really fully well expect them to get the job done.”
By the time the 4-hour, 13-minute game ended, the disappointing performance for Angels starter Patrick Sandoval seemed a distant memory.
Sandoval had been arguably the Angels’ best starter throughout the first two months of the season, but he was charged with six runs, five earned, in just three innings.
He actually seemed to have good stuff — his velocity was higher than normal and the Blue Jays were swinging and missing at his slider — but he couldn’t throw strikes.
He walked three hitters in a row during the four-run third inning for the Blue Jays, including one with the bases loaded. He also gave up several hits on well-placed soft contact, and he was victimized by a rare error by slick fielding shortstop Andrew Velazquez.
The combination of bad luck and bad command sent him to an early exit, trailing 6-2.
“I felt really good today,” Sandoval said. “I can’t complain about how my body feels, how my delivery felt. That third inning just got away from me. Walks are gonna kill me. They did today. They got some lucky bounces on some balls. Pitch count got too high and Joe had to make a move.”
Right-hander Jaime Barria settled the game with by picking up seven outs without allowing a run, and the hitters then took Sandoval off the hook.
Ohtani, who had homered in the first, blasted a two-run homer in the third to cut the deficit to 6-4. Ohtani has 11 homers this season, including two multi-homer games.
Stassi drilled a two-run double into left center to tie the game later in the third.
Ward blasted a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Angels an 8-6 lead. Ward, who added an RBI double in the sixth, started in the outfield for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury last Friday. Since then he had been limited to pinch-hitting and one game at DH.
The encouraging offensive performances for Ohtani, Ward and Stassi, who had four hits, were certainly something positive for the Angels to pack on their six-hour flight to New York.
They are certainly hoping when they get there they will start putting more pieces together to win some games.
“We don’t want to lose, but this team is a lot different than other teams I’ve been on,” Sandoval said. “I know that we’re going to pull this around soon. That’s it. We’re just fighting to win.”