Angels slide back to .500 with loss

ROUGNED ODOR hit two home runs and drove in five runs in the Rangers’ 9-3 win over the Angels on Thursday (Flicker/Keith Allison).

With a 9-3 Independence Day loss to the Texas Rangers on Thursday, the Los Angeles Angels slipped back to .500. That disappointment came along with the news that Tommy La Stella, the team’s top hitter, would miss eight to 10 weeks of the season – possibly the rest of July and all of August – with a fractured tibia (shinbone).

Against the Rangers, starter Griffin Canning was thumped early, giving up seven hits and six earned runs in 3.1 innings. He struck out six batters while walking three. The bullpen didn’t do much better, with Luis Garcia getting nicked for five hits and three runs in one inning.

The Angels (now 44-44) actually held two early leads, 1-0 and 2-1, but couldn’t score again until the top of the ninth. Mike Trout hit his 25th homer of the year and had two hits, elevating his batting average to .299.

For the Rangers (47-40), Rougned Odor hit two home runs and drove in five runs.

The Angels move on to Houston today (Friday) with Noe Ramirez (3-1) starting against Astro ace Justin Verlander (10-3). The game is at 5 p.m. Pacific time.