The Angels have hit a crossroads.
Mike Trout had surgery to address his hamate fracture on Wednesday and is not expected back for at least a month. Anthony Rendon, who was using a crutch to walk, was not placed on the injured list Wednesday, though the Angels will continue to evaluate him. The one note of promising health: Shohei Ohtani, who turned 29 on Wednesday, was in the starting lineup after departing Tuesday’s game early with a finger blister. He finished the series without a hit.
It’s been a series from injury hell for the Angels, never mind the two losses they suffered to the San Diego Padres before Wednesday. There is no help coming to them, at least not until after the All-Star break when some of their other injured players could return. And as the players have reiterated over the last two days, no one is feeling sorry for them.
The Padres completed the three-game sweep Wednesday with a 5-3 victory.
From an injury standpoint, the Angels are limping to the All-Star break. But how they perform in the games leading up to that could hold some extra significance to their playoff potential after their latest injuries.
“I think the games from now to the All-Star break are the most important,” Ohtani said in Japanese on Tuesday. “If we can win in good form, I think we very much have a chance.”
Manager Phil Nevin said maybe it could represent their defining moment if they make it to the playoffs. “We go into a break with what really looks like seven of our nine starters not in a lineup,” Nevin said. “Hey, we can look back to this point and say we weathered the storm, we got through it, we got hot at the right time and we’re playing in October.”
The Angels scored their first run Wednesday after Fernando Tatis Jr. made a fielding error on a hit by Luis Rengifo in the second.
The error allowed Hunter Renfroe, who reached on a double, to score.
In the top of the third inning, Jo Adell hit an RBI double after the ball he hit ricocheted off third base and flew into foul territory. Adell’s hit scored Mickey Moniak, who reached on a single.
Patrick Sandoval pitched decently, his final line including two runs (one earned) on two hits, four batters walked and five struck out.
The Angels’ Matt Thaiss and Padres’ Manny Machado exchanged home runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Nevin was ejected in the bottom of the seventh by plate umpire Jerry Layne. The Padres soon after pulled ahead 4-3, Tatis Jr. scoring on Xander Boagerts’ groundout.
The Angels have a day off between their final two games before the break, against the Dodgers, on Friday and Saturday. The Angels have not won a game against them yet, having played them in a two-game series at Angels Stadium in June.
If the Angels lose both of those games against the Dodgers, they will go into the break under .500. Out of the break, they face back-to-back series with the Houston Astros and New York Yankees, both whom they also have not won a series against this season, and just 21/2 weeks to the trade deadline.
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