HOUSTON — As Jack Kochanowicz looked back on the nightmare that quickly spoiled his night, it wasn’t the hits that bothered him.
It was the walks.
With two outs and the bases empty in the fifth, Kochanowicz allowed the next five hitters to reach, and all eventually scored in what became the Angels’ 14-3 loss to the Houston Astros on Friday night.
The first two hits Kochanowicz allowed were hard ground balls that eluded infielders Luis Rengifo and Tim Anderson. Around them, though, the two walks gnawed at Kochanowicz.
“I can’t be mad about (ground balls getting through),” Kochanowicz said. “I pitch to contact. That’s what happens sometimes. So I’ve just got to limit those walks.”
Kochanowicz took the mound in the fifth with a 2-1 lead, and he quickly retired the first two hitters. Then he faced the top of the Houston order for the third time.
The game ended up being Exhibit A for the way many teams now manage their pitchers. Analytics have shown that pitchers generally struggle once hitters see them for the third time in a game, which is why teams now pull their starters quicker than ever before.
In this case, the Astros were hitting some balls hard, but they were the Angels had chances to make the plays.
Leadoff hitter José Altuve hit a one-hopper at Rengifo, who couldn’t make the backhand play. It was ruled a hit. Kochanowicz then walked Isaac Paredes.
Yordan Alvarez, one of the most dangerous hitters in the majors, then hit a ground ball just past a diving Anderson, as the tying run scored.
“They were tough plays,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “I think they gave the best effort they could. They didn’t come up them. I was sitting on the bench myself, wishing they’d come up with them, but they didn’t. Rengifo, that ball was smashed. He gave it his best effort on the back side. Then the ball that Alvarez hit, the ball was smoked, and T.A. laid out. Didn’t come up with it. And we just couldn’t close the gates.”
Kochanowicz then gave up a clean single to Christian Walker, driving in the go-ahead run, and he walked Jeremy Peña to load the bases.
Washington then summoned left-hander Garrett McDaniels to face Yainer Diaz. Although McDaniels had done well to escape a jam in his previous outing in Tampa, this time he gave up a grand slam, putting the Angels in a 7-2 hole.
“It is a tough spot, no doubt about it,” Washington said. “I believe that he could get me a ground ball or get a strikeout. That’s how much we believe in this stuff. Got a fastball up, and Diaz didn’t miss it. And once that happened, we couldn’t close the gates.”
Right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks entered in the sixth for his major-league debut, and he gave up four more runs. The Astros tacked on three more runs with a pair of homers against Ian Anderson in the eighth.
Prior to all that, the only real highlight for the Angels was Mike Trout blasting a solo homer, his team-leading sixth of the year.
By the time it was over, the were saddled with their most lopsided loss of the young season, just a day after their most lopsided victory.
There wasn’t much for Washington to do but try to forget it.
“They whipped our butt tonight,” he said.
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