Game 81. The halfway point of the 2025 season arrived at Angel Stadium — and the Angels, albeit squarely in contention at .500, were dealing with a bit of organizational uncertainty.
Angels General Manager Perry Minasian announced before Friday’s game that manager Ron Washington would remain on medical leave for the rest of the season because of an undisclosed health issue.
Bench coach Ray Montgomery took over the reins on June 20 as the acting — now interim — manager as the Angels entered Friday as winners in seven of their last 10 games.
The Angels are in a much better spot than 2024. This time last season, after game 81, they were 11 games under .500 — squarely out of the postseason hunt.
Read more: Angels’ Ron Washington will remain on medical leave for rest of season
Friday, however, even after losing 15-9 in a three-hour, 11-minute slog of a series opener against the Washington Nationals (34-48), the Angels (40-41) still are just two games out of the third American League wild card spot.
In a game where the Angels and Nationals combined for 24 runs and 30 hits — with the 19 hits and 15 runs given up by the Angels’ pitching staff representing season-worst marks — what ultimately separated the teams was the Angels’ inability to come through with runners on base.
In the sixth and seventh innings — down one and two runs, respectively — the Angels had opportunities to take the lead or tie the game with runners in scoring position, but failed to capitalize. From there, the Nationals’ lead would grow, with Hunter Strickland giving up four runs in the ninth as part of a 10-run barrage against the Angels’ bullpen.
In the early innings, the Angels had plenty of opportunities against Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irvin, who struggled against the heart of the lineup.
Jo Adell struck a 92-mph fastball high and away to right field for a solo home run — his 18th overall and 11th in June — in the second. An inning later, Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward received hanging breaking balls — a high curveball and slider, respectively — and pulled the ball for short-porch home runs.
Read more: Shaikin: Why many cost-conscious MLB owners are rooting for Angels’ success
Three home runs across three innings helped the Angels build a three-run lead. Across 4 ⅓ innings of work against Irvin, the Angels’ lineup continued to click. They tallied nine runs (eight earned to Irvin) on nine hits — just enough for an early lead as José Soriano tossed his worst outing of the season.
Soriano couldn’t exit the fifth against the Nationals. The shutdown pitching he had featured in his last three starts — giving up just two runs across 20 ⅔ innings — looked like a distant memory. The right-hander struck out four and walked two, while giving up eight earned runs and nine hits.
Angels shortstop Zach Neto (shoulder) returned to action, striking out in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.
Before the game, Neto said that he’d likely be able to hit before throwing — something he’s yet to do — after jamming his shoulder on a stolen base attempt Tuesday.
Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Read the full article here