Sandoval shows 'composure' in tricky outing

ANAHEIM -- Left-hander Patrick Sandoval turned in an encouraging outing in a 6-2 loss to the A’s on Saturday at Angel Stadium, tossing five solid innings in his second start of the year.

Sandoval gave up two runs on four hits and two walks, getting helped out by a pair of double plays. But he was also hurt by a few defensive miscues -- though only one of those plays was ruled an error. With Alex Cobb back in the rotation after returning from the injured list on Thursday, Sandoval is likely to move to the bullpen or add rotation depth at Triple-A Salt Lake, but manager Joe Maddon came away impressed by his spot start and believes he can build on it.

"He was good," Maddon said. "He had a good mix of pitches, good command and I thought he kept his composure. I told him that as soon as he came out of the game. I thought he kept it together really well in some tough moments, so I thought it was a good growth moment against a good offensive club."

Sandoval, who recorded 13 swings and misses among his 83 pitches, was also encouraged by his outing, but he was disappointed by another loss for the Angels, who have dropped three in a row and nine of their last 12.

"I'm pretty happy with how I threw," Sandoval said. "But we just didn't get the 'W.' Obviously, losing is never fun, but we're trying as hard as we can to manufacture a win however we can. It'll come together soon."

The spotty defense that's haunted the Angels all season didn’t help matters, and led to yet another tough loss.

In the first, Sandoval gave up a leadoff triple to Mark Canha, but Juan Lagares had issues in center as he bobbled the ball before getting back in the infield, allowing Canha to reach third on what should’ve been a double. It wasn’t ruled an error, however, and Canha scored on a sacrifice fly from Matt Chapman.

Shortstop José Iglesias made his 10th error of the year to start the second inning, as he couldn’t handle a routine grounder to short from Jed Lowrie. Iglesias is already nearing his career high in errors (11 in 119 games in 2015) and is one off the Major League lead of 11 by Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. -- but Sandoval was able to get out of the inning unscathed.

"I don't know if it's flat-footedness or he's not playing the ball as well as he usually does, but it just hasn't been clean," Maddon said of Iglesias. "But he's one of the best infielders I've seen in recent years as an opponent, so we'll stay with him and keep encouraging him. He's been doing the work, but he's definitely better than he's shown to this point."

Sandoval wasn’t quite as fortunate in the third, when Canha was credited with a double on a ball that was misplayed by right fielder Jose Rojas. That also wasn’t ruled an error, but it was a play that should’ve been made and eventually led to a run scoring on a double-play grounder from Matt Olson.

"He lost it in the lights," Maddon said of Rojas. "He was running to it and losing it and thought it was going to be in a certain spot, and it wasn't. The first one was perfectly placed, but it kicked off the wall. We misplayed and it permitted him to go to third base."

After a 1-2-3 fourth inning, Sandoval found himself in trouble again in the fifth with two on and one out after a hit-by-pitch and a walk. Sandoval, however, got Ramón Laureano to ground into an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam and end his night on a high note.

"They're huge," Sandoval said of the double plays. "Thankfully, they made some plays behind me. I just tried to keep us in it. That last one obviously got me pumped up."

It marked the third time in 17 career starts that Sandoval allowed two runs or fewer in at least five innings. He gave up two runs over four-plus innings against Cleveland on Monday and is still looking for his first career win as a starter after earning one in relief last year.

After Sandoval exited, the bullpen struggled again, as lefty Alex Claudio gave up a solo homer to Olson in the sixth, right-hander Hunter Strickland served up a solo shot to Aramis Garcia in the seventh and Junior Guerra surrendered a two-run blast to Seth Brown in the eighth.

"It's frustrating," Maddon said. "No question it is. But I've been around it before. These guys need to see my support and consistency to come out the other side. That's my overarching gameplan when I walk in the door every day."