Mark Trumbo hit his 22nd home run of the season in the fourth inning. (Associated Press)
A few postgame notes from the Angels’ locker room that won’t appear in my game story:
• Both Mike Scioscia and Tommy Hanson said that Hanson had better stuff tonight than he’s had since he became an Angel. “I was getting a lot of swings and misses that most times I don’t get,” Hanson said. “It was a lot of fun today, a lot of fun pitching. I’m excited to get out here tomorrow, keep working hard and pushing forward.”
• Hanson said the only adjustment he made while on the disabled list the past month was emphasizing getting to the plate quicker, “carry that momentum to the catcher.”
• Props to Ernesto Frieri for waiting to talk to every reporter in the locker room after the game (like he always does). After giving up five runs in one-third of an inning, he had a funny quote: “What I take from this situation, whenever I do bad, it’s like ugly bad. Like ugly super bad. You’ve got a couple guys, they have a couple bad outings, they give up two runs. Me, I give up a lot.”
• Frieri’s ERA rose from 2.76 to 3.80. He’s only given up a run in 10 of his 42 appearances this season, and tonight’s was the fourth in which he has allowed two runs or more.
• The earned run Dane De La Rosa allowed in the seventh inning broke a streak of 18 innings without an earned run allowed by the Angels bullpen that began July 13.
• Josh Hamilton had a cortisone shot in his right ankle to relieve inflammation. He will miss his third straight game tomorrow.
• The Angels were 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position in their 4-3 loss to the Twins on Monday; tonight they went 0 for 9. “We can’t sit back and just live and die by the home run,” Scioscia said. “We have to have more. We have to combine good baserunning with situational hitting and the power we have in our lineup. We just didn’t execute with runners in scoring position tonight. Last night, too.”
• Combined with the Seattle Mariners’ eighth straight win, the Angels fell into sole possession of fourth place in the American League West, 11 games back of the first-place A’s.
• The box score is here.
• Kole Calhoun had a memorable game for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees. Calhoun went 4 for 4 with a solo home run in each of his first three at bats. He settled for a single in his final at-bat. The box score is here.
