Angels kick off last roadie with 3-2 loss to Rangers via Ian Desmond walk-off

Angels 2 Rangers 3

With the Rangers well ahead in first place and the Angels....not...there’s little left to get from this last series in Texas of 2016 other than some good, ol’ fashioned Rangers destroying. Even the smallest of victories goes a long way in Arlington, and tonight the Halos said “screw the standings” and tried to play spoiler.

Jhoulys Chacin gave a performance that warranted his addition in the starting rotation (on a team that’s been devastated by injuries and just doesn’t have many other options). But hey, that’s still something. Go ahead and eat up those innings, Chacin; tonight, he feasted, going 5.0 innings, giving up six hits in the process and giving up just one single run (a Nomara Mazara solo shot).

The Angels were on the receiving end of a decent pitching performance themselves, as starter Martin Perez went 7.0 innings, and gave up just four hits. One of those was a weird hit from Yunel Escobar that got lodged in a scoreboard, and would later be ruled a double, and another of those hits was the subsequent Mike Trout triple down the right field side that sent Escobar home.

At that point in time, the Angels were tied up 1-1, but then Carlos Perez regained the Halos lead by hitting a double that drove in Jefry Marte. The Halos had a late 2-1 lead but it was short lived, because Cory Rasmus came in for relief and gave up a solo dinger to Elvis Andrus.

We were knotted up 2-2 in the 8th for awhile, thanks to an out-of-nowhere torrential downpour that caused a delay. When action resumed, the Rangers threatened the Halos via bases loaded assault, but nothing came from it and to the 9th we went.

Jose Alvarez was tasked with holding down the bottom of the ninth, after the Angels failed to make a dent in the top of the side, and he quickly gave up a couple singles, to Elvis Andrus and Carlos Gomez, and then with the table set for a walk-off, Ian Desmond pulled the trigger and got the ball in play. Andrus crossed home and the Angels had lost the battle.

They’ve lost plenty battles, though, so at least we’re used to a lil’ buttercupping. On the full Buttercupping scale, this one barely even registers, in my humble opinion. Still, it’s the final road trip of the year, and they’ve kicked it off with a loss. Not what you want, but it rarely is with this group.

Turn the page.