NEW YORK -- The Angels had aspirations of moving up in the American League Wild Card standings and getting to the .500 mark when they arrived in New York to start a three-game series against the Mets at Citi Field.
Los Angeles was feeling good about itself after taking two out of three games from the Phillies this past weekend. Unfortunately, the Angels were swept by the Mets, capped off by a 6-3 loss on Wednesday afternoon.
The Angels (49-53) are still only five games behind the Red Sox for the third and final AL Wild Card spot.
Wednesday's loss was a game that turned ugly toward the end. Both interim manager Ray Montgomery and offensive coordinator Tim Laker were ejected during the bottom of the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes.
The Angels had a chance to potentially tie the game in the top of the inning. With runners on first and second and two outs while trailing by three, Luis Rengifo struck out looking in an at-bat in which he did not swing the bat -- and all six pitches appeared to be outside the zone.
A few minutes later, Montgomery came out to make a lineup change and then found himself in an argument with home-plate umpire Erich Bacchus. After the second pitch of the bottom of the eighth inning was called a ball, Bacchus was seen arguing with Laker before the latter was ejected.
"[The calls] were bad,” Montgomery said. “I went out and I didn’t say anything really [about the calls]. I said, ‘You have to keep them on the plate.’ Before I could tell him that [Lamonte] Wade [Jr.] was going into right field, he threw me out, which is what really got me going -- aside from the obvious missed calls.”
On a day when Montgomery went with the bullpen from the start, left-hander Jake Eder ended up getting the bulk of the work, pitching the final six innings while allowing five runs on seven hits. The biggest blow came in the third when he allowed a three-run homer to Pete Alonso. But Eder settled down after the fourth, retiring 12 of the next 14 hitters he faced.
“After the third inning, he was as good as we would have hoped for,” Montgomery said. “To take it all the way out was huge for the bullpen, and for us. He kept the game right there.”
In the final four innings, Eder said he was aggressive on the mound, but it wasn’t the case in the first two frames.
“I grooved some pitches. They were good hitters' pitches,” Eder said. “Maybe out of frustration, I kind of beared down and started attacking and not thinking -- that’s when I was at my best. Going forward, [I’m coming] right out of the gate with that mentality: Attack and don’t care about anything but going right after guys.”
Because of Eder, the Angels have a fresh bullpen. They return home to Anaheim to begin a 13-game homestand on Thursday night against the Mariners.
“It’s never going to be an effort thing with our guys," Montgomery said. "It’s guys posting and showing up when we need them to. To this point, that’s all I can ask. We have been doing that."
Catcher Travis d’Arnaud believes the Angels have the team to play in the postseason this year. He played on the 2021 Braves, a team that won the World Series. He pointed out that Atlanta wasn’t playing well before the Trade Deadline that season, but the club got hot soon thereafter. d’Arnaud believes the Angels can do the same thing.
“Just keep going. I’ve been on teams where we were under .500 close to the Deadline and then the Deadline happened and we went on a run,” d’Arnaud said. “That’s the time of the year where it’s about who's hot and who’s not. If we keep going to every series and try to win it, good things can happen.”