Angels blow early lead in 7-5 loss to Guardians

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on May 31, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CLEVELAND — The third out is the toughest one.

Ryan Zeferjahn got the first two outs of the seventh inning quickly, including retiring perennial MVP candidate José Ramirez.

After that, Zeferjahn couldn’t get another out, and he ended up giving up three runs that sent the Angels to a 7-5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday.

The Angels had taken a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth on Mike Trout’s double, his third hit of the game.

The Guardians chipped away, with Ramirez and Steven Kwan hitting solo homers against starter Kyle Hendricks in the fifth and sixth innings.

Zeferjahn took the mound in the seventh to protect a 5-4 lead.

With two outs, he hung a sweeper to Carlos Santana, who yanked it inside the right-field pole to tie the game. He then gave up a single to Daniel Schneemann, followed by a walk to Bo Naylor.

No. 8 hitter Gabriel Arias swung at a Zeferjahn fastball at the knees and hammered it into the right-center field gap, driving in two.

Since Zeferjahn gave up runs in three straight outings against the best hitters on the Padres and Dodgers earlier this month, he had not allowed a run in his next five outings. Manager Ron Washington has trusted him as his best reliever to handle the most dangerous hitters before closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth.

The Angels (26-31) ended up losing a game that they seemed to have comfortably in hand, when they led 4-0 in the fourth and 5-2 in the fifth.

Yoán Moncada and Taylor Ward got the scoring started with back-to-back homers in the third. It was sixth of the season for Moncada and the team-leading 16th for Ward.

Jo Adell hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Adell is 7 for 15 in his last five games.

Angels starter Kyle Hendricks had a typical game, allowing four runs in 5 2/3 innings, with a season-high six strikeouts.

In the fourth, he struck out the first two hitters of the inning before allowing three straight hits and two runs. An inning later, Hendricks gave up a homer to Ramirez, whom the Angels intentionally walked each of his first two trips.

Hendricks gave up a homer to Kwan in the sixth, ending his day and leaving with the Angels up 5-4.