Falling behind 7-0 after five innings, the Los Angeles Angels again found that you can’t count on a late rally to dig yourself out of a hole that huge. The Halos scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth but that wasn’t nearly enough as they lost 11-5 to the Minnesota Twins in Anaheim Friday night.
The Angels are now 28-30, but still in second place – barely – in the American League West race.
Albert Pujols, in search of his 600th career home run, went 0-for-4, including two strikeouts.
“I think his first couple at-bats tonight, there’s no doubt, he was coming out of his swing a little bit,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “He was swinging hard. But his last couple, he settled in. He hit two bullets, just didn’t get them up. He’ll settle in and be fine.”
Matt Shoemaker (4-3) will get the start on Saturday against the Twins, dueling former Angel Ervin Santana (7-2).