Angels singing the bullpen blues as losing streak balloons to five games

About 12 hours after the Angels lost again, bushy-bearded reliever Archie Bradley bounded into the clubhouse Sunday morning, bursting into song:

“We need a winnn today!”

They say April showers bring May flowers. But, in this case, a 17-10 record for the Angels in April had turned into 13-13 this month — most notably, a 3-8 stretch after Saturday’s frustrating loss to Toronto.

“How many have we lost?” Bradley asked in the clubhouse, to nobody in particular. “Four in a row?”

Four in a row, indeed — and it became five on Sunday, in a raucous slugfest of an 11-10 loss to the Blue Jays that had Angel Stadium alternating between home run cheers and exasperated sighs at a moment’s notice.

It would seem extremely difficult to lose a game in which Shohei Ohtani homered twice, Taylor Ward went a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, and Max Stassi notched three hits and three RBI. Yet an Angels staff that entered sixth in baseball in ERA imploded at every level against Toronto, continuing a frustrating trend for manager Joe Maddon — his relievers not gratifying his faith in high-leverage situations.

In the third inning, starter Patrick Sandoval snatched a toss back from Max Stassi with his throwing hand, shaking his head slightly as he trudged back to the bump. He took out his frustration with a few swift kicks to the rosin bag behind the mound.

He had two outs, before the Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk knocked a single to drive home George Springer. Kick. He had two outs before walking three hitters in a row — three — on 3-2 counts. Kick. He had two outs and Raimel Tapia down 1-2 before Tapia singled, knocking in another couple of runs to bring Toronto’s lead to 6-2. Kick.

Brandon Marsh places the Angels’ home run cowboy hat on Shohei Ohtani’s head after the reigning AL MVP hit a two-run run home run in the third inning Sunday.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The moment was a microcosm of Sunday’s rollercoaster. All the Angels needed for a win, inning after inning, was for someone – anyone – in a red-and-white jersey to step on the mound and hold the Blue Jays down.

But Sandoval, the Angels’ best starter through the season’s first two months, exited with a lowered gaze and an elevated ERA. Oliver Ortega, filling in after two solid innings of long-relief work by Jaime Barria, was nicked and nagged to death in the seventh inning and loaded the bases.

With a 9-6 lead and no outs, manager Joe Maddon turned to Ryan Tepera, a 34-year-old offseason pickup who’d struggled to find the strike zone at times this season. Perhaps it was a show of faith.

It was not repaid.

Four straight pitches to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. crossed home plate without nicking the strike zone, walking home a run. Raimel Tapia slapped a 1-0 single, bringing in a runner. Tepera then proceeded to walk Teoscar Hernandez, tying the score at 9-9 and setting off a raucous boo from the Sunday afternoon crowd.

He finally induced a double-play grounder from George Springer to escape, but the damage was done.

The Angels dropped to 27-22 with the loss, dropping all four games to Toronto. It’s not a pretty stretch, particularly heading into a series with the best team in baseball in the New York Yankees.