Suddenly hot Rendon homers in 4th straight

ANAHEIM -- Anthony Rendon went deep yet again, giving him a home run in a career-high four straight games, but rookie lefty Patrick Sandoval was hurt by an error from Rendon and a two-run homer from Cody Bellinger in a 7-4 loss to the Dodgers in the first game of the Freeway Series on Friday night at Angel Stadium.

It was a star-studded playing field that featured five former MVPs -- the Angels’ Mike Trout and Albert Pujols and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Bellinger. And Rendon is no slouch either, finishing third in the balloting for National League MVP last year, and winning a World Series with the Nationals. But Kershaw, who allowed just the homer to Rendon over seven strong innings, and Bellinger, who homered twice, were too much for the Angels, who dropped to 7-13.

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“[Sandoval] was matching up pretty well with Kershaw, but we made a couple of infield mistakes. Otherwise, it would have been nothing up until that home run,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “I thought he was really good. He did his job. Kershaw was that good. We had to match him, and [Sandoval] kind of did. But you can’t make those mistakes against a good team, and we did.”

Rendon made a critical error in the third that led to a two-run inning for the Dodgers. After Austin Barnes singled to center, Betts hit a grounder to Rendon, who had a chance to start a double play but flubbed it to put two runners on base with nobody out. Justin Turner brought home the game's first run with a single and AJ Pollock scored another with an RBI groundout.

"I think he might've been thinking two on it," Maddon said. "It was a tough hop. It wasn't routine. I know he wasn't happy with himself. He only makes that play 11 out of 10 times."

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Rendon’s homer came on a 3-2 curveball from Kershaw in the fifth and was the Angels’ first hit of the game. Rendon, who also homered against Kershaw in Game 5 of last year’s NL Division Series, got just enough of it, going a projected 373 feet, per Statcast. It was Rendon’s fifth homer of the season. He also walked in the third and in the seventh, making him the only Angels player to reach base against Kershaw.

“I’ll get Rendon out one of these days, I guess,” Kershaw said. “Other than that, it was a good night.”

Rendon became the first Angels infielder to homer in four straight games since Rex Hudler in 1996 and the first Angels third baseman to do it since Jack Howell in 1987. The club record of five consecutive games with a homer was set by Bobby Bonds in 1977.

“He looks good and it’s going to continue to trend upward,” Maddon said. “He says he's feeling good in the box, and it's gonna keep getting better, so not a surprise to me at all. I've seen it."

But the Dodgers pulled away in the sixth with a two-run homer from Bellinger off Sandoval. Sandoval was ahead in the count, 0-2, but left a hanging slider over the middle of the plate. It was one of only a few bad sliders from Sandoval, who leaned heavily on the pitch throughout the night. In his 83 pitches, Sandoval registered an impressive 13 swings and misses, including seven with the slider.

“I felt good,” Sandoval said. “I feel like I had command of all four of my pitches tonight. I just made a mistake late in the game and it came back to hurt us.”

Sandoval was charged with five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks over six-plus innings. It was the first time he ever pitched in the seventh inning, but he gave up a leadoff double to Edwin Ríos and was promptly removed from the game. Ríos later scored on an RBI groundout from Corey Seager. Although Sandoval was charged with the run, he gained confidence from Maddon and pitching coach Mickey Callaway, allowing him to stay out for the seventh.

“It’s awesome to have that trust in me from Joe and Mickey,” Sandoval said. “I’m learning how to navigate my way through a lineup and go deeper into games and keep myself composed out there.”