Luis Rengifo Homers Twice, But Tyler Anderson & Pitching Staff Falter Against Phillies

Tuesday night was a good one for the Los Angeles Angels at the plate. Three players — including Luis Rengifo — recorded three hits, while the young utility man tallied his fourth career two-homer game. But the same can’t be said for Tyler Anderson and the Angels pitching staff against the Philadelphia Phillies.

While Anderson held firm for five innings, giving the Angels a two-run lead in the sixth, he couldn’t record an out against four batters in that frame. José Soriano relieved him and proceeded to allow all of Anderson’s inherited runners to score plus another two for a six-run inning.

The Phillies racked up 10 runs between the sixth and eighth innings. Anderson, Soriano and Barria combined to give up 12 runs on 13 hits for the game. Anderson’s season ERA settled at 5.58 after the Phillies onslaught.

Anderson spoke about the Phillies offense and why he feels they were able to have success against him and the other Angels pitchers, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:

“They just hit a couple of good pitches, hit a couple of bad pitches,” Anderson said. “I feel like that’s a team that’s playing really well right now, and you don’t get away with a lot of mistakes.”

Perhaps one reason for the lackluster performance is some clubhouse distraction related to the breaking news that six players are being placed on waivers, including four that were acquired at the trade deadline earlier this month. But manager Phil Nevin refuted that possibility.

“Those are front office decisions that don’t affect our room,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “We’ve got to go out and win some games and play to play the game right. … Business as usual. We have to go out and play. For five innings we played some good baseball, but it got away from us.”

The Angels have now lost three straight, seven of their last nine and 12 of their last 17. A dismal month of August is mercifully nearing its end, and the Angels are prepared for a major adjustment as the calendar flips to September.

Mickey Moniak leaves game early

In other injury-related news, outfielder Mickey Moniak left Tuesday’s game early because of back soreness. He tweaked his back on Monday, a day when he went 3-for-4 at the plate with a triple and an RBI, but continued to play through it. Moniak believes it’s nothing serious, but he is out of the lineup for Wednesday’s series finale.