NEW YORK -- It looked like Angels right-hander Kyle Hendricks was going to have his best outing of the season on Tuesday night at Citi Field. He was cruising early and given a two-run lead. But then he ended up on the wrong side of a 3-2 loss to the Mets.
In the first four innings, Hendricks retired 11 of the first 13 hitters he faced. The fifth was a strange one. He retired the first two hitters but couldn’t record that third out.
Brett Baty came to the plate and doubled to right-center field. Francisco Alvarez followed and swung at a 2-2 pitch, driving the ball into the left-field seats to tie the game at 2-2.
"[Alvarez] kind of set me up,” Hendricks said. “I was beating guys with my heater in. [Alvarez] just took a few heaters in, so I went with the four [seamer] … and he just put a good swing on it. You could second guess it all day. I should have gone with the two [seamer] off the plate or back to the changeup. Again, I was convicted. I made the pitch I wanted to make.”
After Ronny Mauricio singled to right field and stole second base, he came home on a single by Brandon Nimmo.
"The stolen base was probably the biggest one there. … Then the pitch [to Nimmo] was off the end, hanging up and it was just a little flare single. You take a chance with that all day long," Hendricks said.
The Angels had Mets right-hander Frankie Montas on the ropes throughout his 5 1/3 innings on the mound. Jorge Soler clubbed a solo homer in the second, while Nolan Schanuel drove in the second run with an RBI single in the fifth.
But Los Angeles should have scored more against Montas. In the first inning, Schanuel doubled with one out and Mike Trout singled to right, but Schanuel was thrown out at the plate on a perfect throw from right fielder Juan Soto.
It was a game that saw Schanuel collect a career-high four hits, but Trout couldn’t get the big hit. He left five runners on base and struck out twice.
"He is the guy you want in those situations there,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said of Trout. “He didn’t get it done. He was upset about that. I’ll take my chances with him in [those situations].”
In the fifth, the Angels had a 2-0 lead with one out and runners on second and third, but Trout struck out on Montas’ four-seam fastball. After Taylor Ward drew a walk to load the bases, Jo Adell flied out to center fielder Jeff McNeil to end the threat.
Two innings later, the Angels were down by a run. After Schanuel singled with one out, Trout represented the go-ahead run, but he struck out on a Rico Garcia slider. In the ninth, with pinch-runner LaMonte Wade Jr. on first, Trout had a chance to do some damage against Ryne Stanek, but Trout popped up to first baseman Pete Alonso to end the game.
Trout acknowledged that the All-Star break may have something to do with his problems at the plate. He is now 1-for-8 in the series against New York.
"I had two pitches to hit, second and third [in the fifth inning]. I have to put the ball in play,” Trout said. "[In the seventh] the slider was up. Just pulling it off a little bit.
"The biggest thing is to work hard in the cage. A little bit after the All-Star break, I’m feeling a little off. … [The ninth inning was] the same thing. I feel like I’m seeing the ball well. My [swing] path is not there. I tried a nice easy swing, tried to hit something up the middle and got beat.”