The Angels continue to work without a specified closer, manager Kurt Suzuki tells Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. That comes later Kirby Yates blew the save by giving up a ninth inning homer to Jeff McNeil on Wednesday. The A’s would win that game by scoring a free run Chase Silseth top 10.
Yates would make his first save of the season. The suspect, 39, missed the first six weeks due to swelling in his right knee. He worked most of the games except for three of the four games before the ill-timed long ball yesterday.
The Halos have been the worst team in the league, so it’s no surprise that they have the fewest saves in MLB. That said, it’s surprising that four of their five saves all year have not been released Jordan Romano in the first two weeks of the season. They have one savings in the last six weeks, yes Ryan Zeferjahn against the White Sox on May 5.
Aside from Yates, Silseth technically has the only other save this month. That came in the sixth inning, so it was a missed opportunity to be exact. The Halos didn’t have a chance to save tonight, but they went back to Yates in a situation usually reserved for the closest team – going up in the top of the ninth in a tied game. The good ones work about a Vaughn Grissom error to pitch a scoreless inning.
Grissom got the nod at the hot corner for the third straight game. The last two came with right-handed starters Aaron Civale again Luis Severino. That didn’t just happen by accident, as Suzuki confirmed to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that they cut playing time to contend with a third baseman. Yoan Moncada.
Re-signed to a $4MM deal during the offseason, Moncada hit .189/.308/.297 in 130 plate appearances. Despite avoiding the injury list, the 30-year-old confirmed that he is still dealing with problems in his right knee related to the injury that cost him five weeks last summer. The switch hitter said his knee hurts when he bats right. The Halos therefore limited his exposure to left-handed hitting for the second year in a row.
Moncada was productive from the left side of the plate last season, posting an .815 OPS against righties. That’s down to a .225/.330/.360 line with 34 strikeouts in 104 plate appearances this year – leading to the illegal bench.
“That’s the way we’re going to go,” Suzuki told Fletcher. “I talked to him and he knows what to do. … Right now, that’s where we are. I’m not saying it’s going to be like this all year. It might change. It might not change.”
The Angels took right-hander Grissom in an offseason deal with Boston. A minor fracture to his left wrist sidelined him for several weeks to start the season. Grissom came out on fire during his induction, hitting .342 with a homer and a double in 13 games at the end of April. His bat has cooled significantly since the calendar changed, and he is now hitting .226/.308/.355 over 108 plate appearances. Halos used the Oswald Peraza/Adam Frazier platoon at second base but could get Peraza more work at the hot corner if Grissom doesn’t back up.
