CLEVELAND -- Mother Nature was doing its best to help the Angels on Thursday night at Progressive Field but it merely delayed the inevitable.
Through a pair of rain delays that totaled one hour and 10 minutes, the Halos were toppled by the Indians, 14-4, in the series opener. The loss marked the sixth in as many games on this current nine-game road trip and gave the team a season-worst slump of seven games.
"Nobody is taking this in stride," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "No one wants to get on a streak like this. But the process is important and once we get back to the process, we have got on a good roll. I think that's what we need to focus on is the process."
During its worst skid in 2016, Los Angeles has struggled mightily in one area, whether it be pitching or offensively, in every game. Entering Thursday, the Angels had three consecutive games where they managed just one run. Prior to that, they scored a total of 16 runs in the first three losses.
But on Thursday, neither pitching nor the offense did its part to turn the tide. The former was a 1 1/3-inning outing from right-handed starter Jhoulys Chacín. The latter was an offense that hit two home runs, but neither of which came with runners on base.
"At times we have swung the bats well on this road trip," Scioscia said. "And at times we have pitched well, but we haven't been able to blend the two."
For a brief moment, it appeared the Angels might be changing their recent misfortunes when Mike Trout went yard on a solo shot in the first. Per Statcast™, his club-leading 22nd homer went 381 feet from home plate at an exit velocity of 105 mph. It was his third home run this road trip, with all three coming in the first frame.
However, the Tribe answered with a five-spot in the home half of the first and never looked back. Chacin fell behind early in the count often against the Cleveland lineup, allowing seven runs on six hits.
"I wasn't throwing strikes and I wasn't getting ahead of the count," Chacin said. "I couldn't make good pitches to get out of the inning. It was really disappointing that I couldn't at least go farther in the game. Today just wasn't my day."
But his offense did him no favors, either, with the Halos plating just three more runs the rest of the game, each in a separate frame. As a result, Los Angeles has now lost seven straight games for the first time since April 30-May 8, 2010.
Still, Scioscia and rest of the Angels are not boiling over with frustration. Instead, they are choosing to trust the process.
"I think we are going to grind it out," Scioscia said. "Hopefully we are all determined to push through and come out on the other side better for everything that's happened right now. We are going to continue to do it and hopefully get on a run."