Angels take positives from 14-inning loss

ANAHEIM -- It was a wild 14-inning game with several subplots such as Matt Harvey turning in his best start of the season, a solid showing from the bullpen, an unlikely comeback against closer Aroldis Chapman in the 12th inning, Peter Bourjos’ first action in the infield in his career and Trevor Cahill serving as a pinch-hitter in the 14th, but in the end it was yet another loss for the Angels, a 4-3 defeat to the Yankees in a four-hour and 35-minute game Monday night at Angel Stadium.

It was another frustrating finish for the Angels, who saw Gleyber Torres reach on a strikeout to open the 14th after a throwing error from catcher Jonathan Lucroy and score on a go-ahead two-out RBI single from Gio Urshela off reliever Luke Bard.

“It really was a great baseball game, all around, on both sides,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “We battled back against one of the best closers in the game to tie it. Just unfortunately came up a little short. There was a lot of good things that happened except for the outcome."

In another statistical quirk, Bard struck out four batters that frame, marking the first time an Angels pitcher has accomplished the feat since Zack Greinke on Sept. 25, 2012, against the Mariners. But Lucroy’s throwing error loomed large, as the Angels lost for the seventh time in eight games.

“It's really tough,” Bourjos said. “Obviously, hopefully we can start being on the right side of these games. The good thing is we are in these games and we keep coming back.”

But the top of the 14th wasn’t the only unusual part of Monday’s game, as losing Zack Cozart to an injury after rallying in the 12th against Chapman caused a strange chain of events the rest of the way.

The injury occurred when Brian Goodwin delivered a game-tying RBI single with two outs off Chapman but Cozart was injured after diving back into second and colliding with second baseman DJ LeMahieu. With the Angels out of position players, reliever Felix Pena had to serve as a pinch-runner for Cozart while Bourjos moved to second base in the 13th. It also caused the loss of their designated hitter, which forced Cahill to come to the plate in the 14th with the game on the line.

With two outs, the Yankees elected to walk Kole Calhoun to get to Cahill, who entered with a .117 average in 204 career plate appearances. Cahill struck out against Jonathan Holder to end it.

“There were some moving parts, but Cahill was kind of the guy that we'd hit if it wasn't going to be Bard,” Ausmus said. “If we had tied the game before getting to the pitcher's spot, Bard would have hit. If not, Cahill was the guy."

The loss spoiled an otherwise strong showing from Harvey and the bullpen, as Harvey allowed two runs on three hits over six innings to bounce back after three rough outings, while Angels relievers combined to surrender two runs (one earned) over eight innings with just two hits allowed.

“Obviously, I wish I didn’t give up that second run,” said Harvey, who threw 83 pitches. “We wouldn’t still be here. The sixth inning was my best inning. I felt like I could attack and throw the ball the way I wanted to. That’s big. Going six innings with that many pitches and still feeling like I could keep going, that’s a big positive.”

The offense, however, was quiet throughout the night outside of Lucroy connecting on a two-run homer in the second and the left-handed-hitting Goodwin’s RBI single off Chapman. But Harvey believes the club will be OK after falling to 9-14 on the year. It's been a slew of close losses for the Angels; in their last five defeats, four have been one-run losses with the other a two-run margin.

“We’re right there,” Harvey said. “It’s just a matter of the offense hitting balls right at guys. If that goes a different way -- like tonight they could have hit a fly ball right at somebody like we did. It’ll turn. We’re good in here in the locker room. Everybody is positive and staying focused on our task at hand. We’ll be fine.”