Split squads bring split results for Angels
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The Angels played home and road games at the same time Sunday, losing, 2-0, to the Seattle Mariners in Tempe and beating the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3, in Goodyear, Ariz.
Most of the Angels’ major leaguers stayed home to play the Mariners, and though they got good pitching, especially out of the bullpen, they didn’t get enough offense to make that stand up. Ervin Santana started but struggled for consistency, allowing a run on five hits and two walks in four busy innings.
Jordan Walden, Michael Kohn, Trevor Bell and Jason Bulger followed, with each pitching a shutout inning in which they allowed one hit. Walden and Bulger also struck out two Mariners apiece.
The Angels were held to four hits by six Seattle pitchers but still managed to bring the winning run to the plate with two outs in the ninth. However Brandon Wood struck out on three pitches to end the game.
In Goodyear, Angel Castillo had a two-run double then scored himself when Jeremy Moore followed with a triple, keying a four-run eighth inning rally to beat the Reds.
Moore had two hits, drove in two and scored twice while Efren Navarro had two hits and two runs batted in, raising his spring average to .438. Reliever Kevin Jepsen had his second rough outing in four tries this spring, allowing a run on two hits in one inning.
-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.