Pena injured as Halos' stumble continues

CLEVELAND -- As Angels starter Felix Pena was being carried off the field in the second inning due to a right knee sprain, Los Angeles probably didn’t anticipate later carrying a no-hitter into the fifth. The Angels already had enough to think about.

However, the Halos’ adjusted pitching plan began to crumble in that critical frame, surrendering five runs on a pair of homers to Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor. The big inning would become too much to overcome, as the Angels fell to the Indians, 7-2, Saturday night at Progressive Field.

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While the full extent of Pena’s injury was not initially known after the game, the potential loss of the 29-year-old hurler for any prolonged period would certainly be less than ideal, even with the impending return of Andrew Heaney on the horizon.

“He’s pitched pretty well for us,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “We’ve taken some hits in the starting rotation. We’ve got to find another way.”

Pena recorded just five outs before the injury to his knee, which occurred while covering first base on a grounder to Albert Pujols. Pena lunged to grab the high throw from Pujols, landing hard on his right leg. His left foot also landed awkwardly on the bag as he finished the play.

Pena immediately began hopping on his left foot before going to the ground. He was later diagnosed with a sprain and underwent an MRI.

The results of those additional tests were not available Saturday night.

“It didn’t look out of the ordinary, other than him going down right after he hit the top of the bag,” Ausmus said. “There was no obvious leg distortion or anything.

“[We’re] not overly optimistic based on his reaction.”

Pena, who entered the night with a 4.66 ERA in 94 2/3 innings this season, was replaced by Trevor Cahill. Cahill later yielded the two-run round-tripper to Kipnis. The righty was relieved by Justin Anderson, who yielded Lindor’s three-run homer.

Despite the eventual result, Ausmus was particularly appreciative of the length that Cahill provided on short notice.

“He was going really well,” Ausmus said of Cahill, who logged 2 2/3 innings of relief. “I still think that was a good outing.”

Simmons update

Adding to the Angels’ list of unfortunate news, shortstop Andrelton Simmons was removed from the lineup prior to Saturday’s game with left foot soreness.

Simmons felt discomfort while taking batting practice in the cages Saturday afternoon. Ausmus said that Simmons is expected to undergo an MRI.

“Just something happened,” Ausmus said. “It was a little bit of a strange injury. That’s why we’re getting it checked.”

Simmons is slashing .274/.315/.382 with five homers and 28 RBIs in 74 games this season. David Fletcher played shortstop in Simmons’ absence.

Offensive lull

Justin Upton provided the Angels’ only runs Saturday night, courtesy of a sacrifice fly in the sixth and an RBI single in the eighth. Upton’s base hit snapped an 0-for-17 skid.

Overall, Los Angeles has managed to score just five runs in its back-to-back losses to Cleveland this weekend, ensuring its third consecutive series loss.

“We’re kind of cool as a team offensively,” Ausmus said. “If we were swinging the bats better, it wouldn’t necessarily matter as much who they were throwing at us. We’d probably be getting our hits and scoring more runs. We’re in kind of a lull offensively.”

The Angels are averaging 4.1 runs per game over their recent 2-7 stretch.