BOSTON -- A demoralizing day for the Angels took another turn for the worse after their late-inning rally came up short in a 9-6 loss to the Red Sox on Wednesday night at Fenway Park, extending their losing streak to five games and exacerbating their treacherous slide in the American League West standings.
Ian Kinsler and Martin Maldonado homered to help the Angels erase a six-run deficit and tie the game in the seventh inning, but the Red Sox scored two runs off left-hander Jose Alvarez in the bottom half of the inning to regain the lead. Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel then escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and converted a four-out save to shut the door for the Red Sox, who have now won all five of their games against the Angels this season.
"We're trying to battle back every game," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Unfortunately, we haven't set games up the way we need to for the last handful of games. We got back in this one, had some opportunities, but those guys, they got out of it and got some clutch hits late."
The Angels have gone 4-12 over their last 16 games to fall to 41-40 at the halfway point of the season. With five weeks to go until the non-waiver Trade Deadline, the Angels have sunk to fourth place in the AL West, slipping a season-high 12 1/2 games behind the division-leading Astros and nine games behind the Mariners for the second Wild Card spot.
"We've got a lot of work to do," left-hander Andrew Heaney said. "I've said it a million times -- every single guy in here, they care, they ... work hard, they come to the ballpark every single day prepared. We've had a hard time putting everything together. It's not an excuse, but we've had a lot of [things] not go our way. I think everybody understands what we have ahead of us. It's just got to start with one, and we'll build from there."
The stinging loss came on the same day the Angels placed John Lamb on the disabled list with inflammation in his left shoulder and elbow and learned they would lose infielder Zack Cozart to season-ending shoulder surgery.
• After tough outing, Lamb lands on disabled list
They took another hit in the eighth inning, when right-hander Jake Jewell appeared to seriously injure his right ankle while attempting to run home for a defensive play at the plate. Jewell, who was pitching in his third MLB game after being recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday, was carted off the field and taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for further treatment.
"It was really sad, especially for a young guy," Maldonado said. "It's always hard when you have to see a teammate go down like that."
Making his first career start at Fenway Park, Heaney yielded six runs -- all in an ugly second inning -- on eight hits over 3 1/3 innings in his second-shortest outing of the season.
In the first inning, Heaney gave up a leadoff single to Mookie Betts and a walk to J.D. Martinez to put a pair of runners on with one out, but he struck out Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland swinging to escape the jam unscathed.
Heaney couldn't avoid damage in the second, however, as Eduardo Nunez opened the inning by blasting an 0-1 sinker to the center-field bleachers for a home run. Rafael Devers then singled to set up Sandy Leon's two-run blast over the Green Monster. After walking Betts and giving up a single to Andrew Benintendi, Heaney misplaced a changeup to Martinez, who hammered it to left-center for a three-run homer that made it 6-0.
"We had a game plan going in, and I did not execute it," Heaney said. "In no way shape or form did I execute it. I didn't make any of the pitches that I wanted to when I fell behind. I didn't bail myself out by making good pitches. They're a good hitting team, and they punished me for it."
Heaney posted a scoreless third, but he couldn't get out of the fourth. Jackie Bradley Jr. singled, Betts walked and Martinez singled to load the bases with one out, prompting Scioscia to lift Heaney in favor of Hansel Robles, who coaxed a forceout from Bogaerts and a groundout from Moreland to keep the Red Sox from extending their lead.
The Angels were blanked through the first four innings by Red Sox right-hander Rick Porcello, but they got on the board in the fifth after Kinsler launched a first-pitch fastball to left field for his 11th home run of the season. The offense continued to stir in the sixth, as Andrelton Simmons and Kole Calhoun strung together back-to-back singles before Maldonado crushed a three-run homer to cut the deficit to 6-4.
The Angels added two runs in the seventh to tie the score at 6. Justin Upton singled, advanced to third on a double by Jose Pujols and scored after Joe Kelly made an errant throw to second base on a comebacker by Luis Valbuena. Simmons brought in another run with a game-tying RBI double to left field, but Calhoun and Maldonado subsequently struck out to end the inning.
The deadlock didn't last long. Alvarez entered the game in the seventh and issued a two-out walk to Nunez, who scored the go-ahead run on Devers' double to center field. The Red Sox added an insurance run on Leon's RBI double.
Boston has now outscored the Angels, 45-10, in their five matchups this season.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Down by two runs, the Angels threatened again in the eighth after Kinsler reached on a one-out error by Devers and Michael Trout walked. Matt Barnes struck out Upton for the first out of the inning, and Boston manager Alex Cora then opted to bring in closer Kimbrel to face Pujols. Pujols drew a seven-pitch walk to load the bases, but Kimbrel then struck out Valbuena swinging on a 98-mph fastball to quash the Angels' rally.
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Nunez led off the fifth by bouncing a grounder to third baseman Valbuena, who fired a throw to first base that pulled Pujols off the bag. Pujols appeared to tag Nunez before he touched the base, prompting first-base umpire Ed Hickox to call him out. The Red Sox challenged the call, but the ruling was upheld following a review.
UP NEXT
Rookie Jaime Barria (5-3, 3.40 ERA) will make his first career start against the Red Sox in Wednesday's series finale at 4:10 p.m. PT at Fenway Park. Barria will be opposed by left-hander Christopher Johnson (1-2, 4.50 ERA). The Angels are just 6-13 against left-handed starters this season. Barria did not factor in the decision in his most recent start, on Saturday, after yielding one run over five innings against the Blue Jays. He is 3-1 with a 3.10 ERA in four road starts this season.