Angels fall short in another slugfest with Diamondbacks

Dylan Bundy had the worst start of his otherwise stellar season, failing to complete the third inning in Wednesday night’s 9-6 loss to the Diamondbacks.

The first six batters of the second inning reached against Bundy — four singles and two walks — to plate four runs. After getting the first two outs of the third inning, successive singles ended Bundy’s night.

Bundy left with a 4-2 lead, but a walk and a single against reliever Hoby Milner charged two more runs to Bundy’s ledger. The six runs allowed were two more than Bundy has allowed in any start this season.

Angels relief pitchers have allowed 38 percent of inherited runners to score this season (46 of 121), the second-highest rate in MLB this season, and well above the league average of 30 percent.

Sandoval’s back

Before Wednesday’s game, the Angels recalled Patrick Sandoval from the alternate training site at Long Beach, and used him in relief for the first time this season and just the second time in his career.

Sandoval retired his first eight batters faced, including striking out the side in the fourth. But he ran into trouble in his fourth inning of work, when Kole Calhoun and David Peralta hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh to widen Arizona’s advantage to 9-4.

Notes

• Jared Walsh homered in the fifth inning, his sixth homer in the last seventh games. Walsh in September is slugging 1.022, and he has six straight multi-hit games.
• Justin Upton also homered in the sixth, his second straight game with a long ball, reaching base three times Wednesday. Upton in his last 14 games is hitting .375/.464/.688 with seven extra-base hits and 13 RBI.
• Calhoun in this series is 5-for-10 with three home runs and seven RBI. His 71 career home runs in Anaheim are 13th-most in Angel Stadium history, two behind Bobby Grich.
• Matt Thaiss was optioned to make room for Sandoval on the roster.
• With the loss, the Angels remain 4½ games behind Houston for a playoff berth. Their elimination number is seven.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: Max Stassi (5), Jared Walsh (7), Justin Upton (7); Kole Calhoun (12), David Peralta (5)

WP — Taylor Clarke (2-0): 5 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts

LP — Dylan Bundy (5-3): 2⅔ IP, 6 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Angels try to avoid getting swept on Thursday afternoon (1:10 p.m.; Fox Sports West, MLB Network), with Griffin Canning on the mound against another lefty in Alex Young for the Diamondbacks.