Taylor Cole blows up in the first but Patrick Sandoval shines in his MLB debut

Angels 4 Reds 7

The hits just keep coming. This time, Taylor Cole failed as the opener for the 2nd time in the past 4 games. Friday Cole gave up 4 runs while recording only 1 out. Tonight he managed to get through an inning but served up 5 runs in the process. What could have happened if Sandoval instead of Cole had started this game that the Angels lost by only 3 runs?

Patrick Sandoval was the story of the night for the Angels. The 22 year old made his first major league “start”. The purpose of the opener is supposed to be so the next guy doesn’t have to come in to face the top of the order. The problem here was that Taylor Cole faced 9 batters so Sandoval came in to face the top of the order anyway but with a 5 run deficit. Ooops!

Sandoval looked sharp though and he carved up 8 Reds hitters over 5 innings while allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks. In his first inning, he did throw a pair of wild pitches and gave up a walk - but clearly nerves were at play. Sandoval settled in and threw some nasty pitches like this one:

Aside from the disastrous first inning, the Angels also had problem scoring runs through most of this game. Probably because Luis Castillo was also looking nasty and racked up a career high 13 Ks.

Luis Rengifo and Mike Trout provided some firepower courtesy of two solo jacks. After a Matt Thaiss walk in the 9th, Brian Goodwin hit his 10th home run, making this a 7-4 game. Too little, too late.

The losing streak now stands at 5 games and the Angels drop to two games below sea level.