[jksander]

April 15, 2025: With the city still buzzing about our surprise signing of Bauer out of “retirement,” Sean Burke (0-3, 7.24 ERA, 13.2 IP, 16 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) took the mound against Angels lefty Reid Detmers (2-1, 4.42 ERA, 18.1 IP, 21 K’s, 1.58 WHIP). It was icy cold, barely above freezing, coupled with a 10-mile wind blowing across from right, and the Angels got on the board in the top of the third with an RBI single by Jorge Soler. We answered in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer by Luis Robert Jr, and we took the lead when Jorge Alfaro hit an RBI single moments later to score Lenyn Sosa. Cadyn Grenier added an RBI single to cap the inning, and we led 3-1 heading into the top of the fifth. Justin Dunn took over in the sixth, and an RBI single by Yoan Moncada got them back within a run. Penn Murfee came out to pitch in the seventh but he did not have a great stretch ... with one out, Mike Trout hit an RBI single to tie the game up at 3-3, though he was able to get us out of the inning without handing them a lead. We brought out Shane Smith in the eighth, and he had an inexplicable meltdown that led to our complete collapse ... with the bases loaded, Luis Rengifo hit an RBI single that drove in two runs, and we went into the bottom of the eighth trailing by a pair. Mike Clevinger came out in the ninth and he got the outs we needed, but our bats were silent the rest of the way and we lost 5-3. Burke had five innings with two hits, two walks, three strikeouts and one earned run, and Dunn held it through the sixth, but Murfee blew his first save, and Smith fell to 1-2 with a 2.13 ERA, allowing a hit, three walks and two runs in his inning. They outhit us 9-8, Luis Robert Jr leading the way for us with two hits, a run and an RBI.

April 16, 2025: Trevor Bauer made his much anticipated first start for us tonight, but in front of a meager crowd of under 12,000 due to a combination of our record, the cold weather, and controversy due to anticipated protests outside the ballpark over Bauer’s signing. LA started Hans Crouse (0-2, 5.62 ERA, 8.0 IP, 9 K’s, 1.75 WHIP), and we looked to bounce back from yesterday’s disappointing finish. Luis Robert Jr gave us the lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single, but the Angels answered with a solo homer out of left by Jorge Solar in the top of the third, and in the top of the fifth they took the lead off a sac-fly by Tim Anderson to go up 2-1. Bauer stayed out one batter too long ... in the top of the sixth with two outs and two men on, Mickey Moniak hit a three-run slam out of left, putting us in a 5-1 hole as we brought out Penn Murfee. But we came roaring back in the bottom of the inning, Teel hitting an RBI double, followed by a two-run single by Joey Gallo to pull us back within a run! With one out in the top of the seventh, Kevin Newman stole third and came around to score thanks to an E2 error, giving the Angels a two-run cushion again, and a sac-fly by O’Hoppe increased their margin to 7-4 heading into the stretch. Kimbrel came out of the pen for the eighth inning, and Martin Perez pitched in the ninth still trailing by three. But we got right back into it when, with no outs, Mike Tauchman hit a three-run homer out of center to tie it up, getting the right fastball on the 10th pitch of his appearance ... that sent us into extra innings tied 7-7. Perez got us through the top of the 10th without the ghost runner scoring, and with one out, Chase Meidroth hit a line drive into right field with runners on first and second, walking this one off as we won 8-7!

Bauer’s debut was solid, and had we pulled him earler it would have looked better (and we wouldn’t have had such a deep hole to dig out of). As it was, he lasted 5.2 innings and threw 92 pitches, allowing five hits, two walks and five earned runs with four strikeouts. Martin Perez, who he replaced in the rotation, gave us two innings out of the bullpen and got the win, improving to 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA, walking two and striking out one, no hits allowed. We outhit them 8-5, led by Tauchman who had his three-run homer plus a walk that allowed him to score a second run. After our miserable 1-10 start, we’ve now won four of our last six, and though we have no expectations that we’re suddenly going to be a factor in the division, there’s actually a building confidence among our players that we can at least put up a real fight.

April 17, 2025: Noah Syndergaard (0-0, 3.24 ERA, 16.2 IP, 8 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitched against Jose Suarez (0-1, 7.04 ERA, 15.1 IP, 14 K’s, 1.70 WHIP) in our final game of the series (and of this homestand) against the Angels, and he had a rough start ... Tim Anderson singled, Jorge Solar reached first on an E5 groundball error, and Mike Trout singled in a run, taking second as Solar advanced to third. Logan O’Hoppe singled in a second run, and a groundball hit off Taylor Ward’s bat whizzed past Grenier’s ear and into the outfield as LA increased their margin to 3-0 ... still no outs. Nolan Schanuel grounded into a 3-6-3 double play, but O’Hoppe scored their fourth run off a wild pitch. We got out of the inning trailing 4-0, and all this happened on just 23 pitches. It’s gonna be THAT kind of a night. O’Hoppe added a solo homer in the top of the third, but our bats woke up in the bottom of the inning ... With Vargas at the plate, two outs and the bases loaded, Michael A. Taylor scored off a passed ball, and then Vargas hit an RBI single that, coupled with an E7 error, allowed two more to score. Syndergaard had settled down and got three quick outs in the fourth, and in the bottom of the inning Taylor hit an RBI double that drove in two to tie it at 5-5! Syndergaard gave up a solo homer to Trout in the top of the fifth, Trout’s sixth longball of the season, and with two outs and O’Hoppe on second we brought out Clevinger ... but the runner scored off an RBI single by Nolan Schanuel, increasing their lead to 7-5 as we came up to hit in the bottom of the frame. Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to get us back within a run, and Clevinger got us into the stretch with a real chance. We brought out Shane Smith in the eighth, still trailing 7-6 ... in the ninth inning he stayed out there, and after giving up a single to Luis Rengifo, who stole second, Smith got Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson and Jorge Soler to all three strike out consecutively, sending us into the bottom of the inning with just the one run between us and keeping this game alive. With two outs, Tauchman walked to put the tying run on first, but Brandon Drury struck out swinging and we lost this one 7-6, our record dropping to 5-13 ahead of our upcoming road trip.

Noah Syndergaard had a rough go of it, allowing seven hits, two walks and seven runs (five earned) with just two strikeouts in his 4.2 innings. But our bullpen staff have been all gaining a lot of confidence, and it showed through tonight -- Mike Clevinger pitched 2.1 innings with two hits and a strikeout, improving his ERA to 0.49 through 18.1 innings, and Shane Smith pitched the last two innings with a hit and three K’s, improving his ERA to 1.84 through 14.2 innings. They kept us in the game, but we were outhit 10-7, our offense led by Kyle Teel who had three hits and scored two runs, while Michael A. Taylor put up a hit, a run and two RBIs.

We’ll spend the next ten days on the road, playing four against Boston (10-10), three against Minnesota (12-7) and three against these Angels (10-9). The Twins have surged to take the lead in the division by half a game over the 11-7 Tigers, while we, the Rockies (5-13) and the Pirates (5-14) are the worst teams currently in the majors.