This time, there was no comeback for the Angels.
Whatever momentum they had built earlier this week seemed to suddenly disappear.
A day after magically rallying from an eight-run deficit to complete a sweep in Detroit, the Angels suffered an eight-run defeat in a listless 9-1 loss to Cleveland on Friday.
After getting little from starter Jaime Barria, who gave up five runs in two innings, or the lineup, which managed just four hits on a day Cleveland (59-61) pitched a de facto bullpen game, the Angels (62-62) dropped back to .500 for the 25th time this season — one short of a club record.
“We just came off a big comeback yesterday,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s hard to replicate that on a consistent basis.”
Here are three observations from Friday.
Barria struggles again
Barria’s return to the Angels rotation last month began with promise, when he gave up only five runs in 19 2/3 innings in his first three starts this year.
In his last two outings, however, the 25-year-old right-hander has been roughed up both times.
After giving up three runs in three innings against the Houston Astros last week, Barria lasted just two frames on Friday.
“He just didn’t have his normal stuff,” Maddon said. “Nothing was really crisp, nothing was finishing. ... It just wasn’t going to work out after two innings.”
In the first, Barria gave up a three-run homer to Franmil Reyes on a hanging slider.
In the second, Myles Straw and Amed Rosario both hit RBI doubles to make it 5-0 — the first time Barria had surrendered more than three runs in a start since 2019.
“Tomorrow, I want to sit down and watch some video,” Barria said through an interpreter. “I want to figure out the problem as fast as I can.”
Even though Barria had only thrown 45 pitches, Maddon decided to replace him to begin the third.
Afterward, the manager noted that decreased fastball velocity (which on Friday averaged just 93.2 mph, almost a full tick slower than his season average) and inconsistency with breaking pitches have been issues in both of his past two outings.
Barria offered a similar assessment.
“I feel like this start and my previous start was more about location,” Barria said. “I’ve been off on my location. The catcher sets up and I keep missing my spots. That’s what I should be focusing on.”
Marte’s strong debut
The biggest positive on Friday: Jose Marte, who struck out four batters over two scoreless innings in his major league debut.
“My first batter, first pitch, I was a little nervous,” Marte said. “But after that, I was able to calm myself down.”
A 25-year-old reliever, Marte was acquired by the Angels when they traded Tony Watson to the San Francisco Giants last month — one of the many new arms they added through the trade deadline and MLB draft.
Before the game, Maddon said the club had been impressed by Marte’s hard fastball and ability to throw strikes. Both things showed up once he took the mound Friday, as he averaged 97.3 mph with the heater and hit the zone on 22 of 33 pitches.
After stranding a two-out single in the fourth inning, he returned for the fifth and struck out the side.
“He was ready for that moment,” Maddon said. “It was good to get it out of the way, get his feet on the ground. I thought he handled it beautifully. And his stuff was really good.”
Like fellow rookie reliever Austin Warren, Maddon said Marte will have the opportunity to quickly ascend into a leverage spot if he continues to pitch well.
“You’re still looking to get on a nice run and become very pertinent, but at the same time you’re always looking to the future,” Maddon said when asked if Marte’s debut helped cushion the blow of an otherwise underwhelming night. “It’s fun to watch him.”
Not another comeback
While Marte was good, other Angels relievers weren’t as sharp.
While Sam Selman — another pitcher acquired in the Watson trade — pitched a scoreless third, Junior Guerra and José Quijada struggled later in the game. Guerra gave up three runs in the sixth. Quijada gave up another in the ninth.
Meanwhile, the offense did little to chip away at Cleveland’s lead. After a third-inning RBI single by David Fletcher, the Angels produced only two more baserunners the rest of the night.
“There’s a lot to like about this group and I think [the comeback] yesterday personified that,” Maddon said. “Today was just a tougher day.”
