Angels come up short despite strong outing from Griffin Canning – Orange County Register

NEW YORK — The Angels wasted Griffin Canning’s seven-inning performance in a 3-2 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon.

Canning gave up one run and Luis Rengifo’s homer in the eighth put the Angels on top, but Matt Moore gave up a run in the eighth and Reynaldo López allowed the winner in the ninth.

López barely hit Francisco Alvarez with a pitch to lead off the inning. D.J. Stewart then singled into right, and López walked Mark Vientos to load the bases. Rafael Ortega hit a liner to right. Hunter Renfroe made a lunge for the ball but couldn’t catch it, as the winning run scored.

Moore gave up a two-out RBI double to Pete Alonso in the eighth.

First base was open so the Angels could have walked Alonso, but in that case they would have been putting the potential go-ahead run on base.

The bullpen — and the Angels’ lack of offense — cost Canning a victory in his first start since July 25. He then spent two weeks on the injured list because of calf tightness. He had pitched twice in relief since.

Canning did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, when he gave up three singles and his only run.

The run might have been prevented. With runners at first and second and two outs, Alvarez hit a bouncer up the middle.

Rengifo, the second baseman, made a diving stop and ended up on his back for a moment. When he lifted his head, he threw home, but too late to get the runner. He might have had a better chance to flip the ball to second to get slow-footed Daniel Vogelbach for an inning-ending force.

Canning tacked on three more innings after that, providing the Angels with precisely the kind of performance they needed. The bullpen was thin because starter Chase Silseth had to come out of Saturday’s game with a head injury in the fourth inning.

More to come on this story.