Angels falter after quick start, get swept by Astros

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Jul 30, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM — On the night when interim GM John Mozeliak made his first trade toward reshaping the roster, the Angels showed there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done.

Despite an encouraging performance from Grayson Rodriguez and a three-run lead in the first inning, the offense, defense and bullpen didn’t do enough to keep the Angels from a 7-4 loss – and a sweep – against the Houston Astros on Wednesday night.

The Angels (42-67) are a season-worst 25 games under .500, on pace for a 62-100 record. The Angels have never lost 100 games in their franchise history.

They haven’t had a winning season since 2015, which is why Mozeliak was brought in to try to get the franchise turned in the right direction. When he shipped out catcher Logan O’Hoppe, who had been considered a part of the young core, he talked about the organization’s need for “change.”

For now, though, they still need a deeper lineup.

On Monday night, they started strong, scoring three runs in the first inning against right-hander Hayden Wesneski in his first game back from Tommy John surgery.

The Angels had four hits and a walk in the first inning, but they didn’t score again until the eighth inning, when they were down by three runs.

The bullpen was taxed because Angels starters have only made it past the fifth inning in one of the five games they had played since the previous off day. And it was further short-handed on Wednesday because right-hander Chase Silseth was also a part of the O’Hoppe trade, and the Angels didn’t have time to replace him on the roster.

Left-hander Mitch Farris was the first one through the bullpen door when Rodriguez left after five innings. Farris was pitching for the third time in four days, so the extra workload might have contributed to his uncharacteristic lack of control. He walked three, on his way to allowing three runs.

The Astros then added an insurance run in the seventh when a pop-up dropped in shallow right field, between first baseman Nolan Schanuel and right fielder Jo Adell. The Angels made another error leading to an unearned run in the ninth.

Amid all that, the most positive development was Rodriguez allowing two runs in five innings.

Rodriguez has been inconsistent throughout his return to the mound, showing plenty of rust from nearly a year and a half missed to injuries. His stuff has been mostly good, but the command has been lacking.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez struck out six, equaling the most in any of his 10 starts. He walked two. Rodriguez also induced 15 whiffs, which was four more than he had in any previous game. The Astros whiffed on seven of their 15 swings at his changeup.

Rodriguez’s fastball was consistently 97 mph and hit 98 mph.

Rodriguez, 26, is under control to the Angels for three more seasons, so they would love for him to show the stuff he demonstrated before his injuries, particularly as they might trade away other starting pitchers in the coming days.