Ricky Nolasco gives Angels their latest short start in loss to Mariners

SEATTLE — If the Angels hope to get to the postseason, they are going to have to reverse this trend with their starting pitchers.

Ricky Nolasco provided the latest disappointing performance, allowing four runs in 3⅔ innings in the Angels’ 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Angels starters have a 6.53 ERA in the last 20 games. The work of the bullpen and the offense has kept them from sinking during their stretch.

On Friday, only the bullpen came through, keeping the deficit manageable. The Angels never trailed by more than two, but the lineup produced little after a two-run first inning.

They slipped to two games behind the Minnesota Twins for the second wild card.

Nolasco worked a scoreless first. In the second, Nolasco had two outs with a runner at first. Mike Zunino then singled into left field. Ben Gamel then took a splitter at the knees and he golfed it over the right field fence, a 360-foot three-run homer, erasing the Angels’ 2-0 lead.

“He made the adjustment,” Nolasco said. “Nothing you can do. Tip your cap. He won that one.”

In the third, with two outs and the bases empty, Robinson Cano hit a bouncer up the first-base line. C.J. Cron was there to grab it, but the ball hit the bag and bounced over Cron’s head, dropping into right field for a double. The next two hitters walked, loading the bases for Mitch Haniger. Haniger poked an opposite-field single into right, putting the Mariners ahead, 4-2.

“The difference in the game is a ball hitting a base,” Nolasco said. “That’s a ‘hang with ’em.’ But I didn’t do a good job of controlling the game with two outs. Kind of both ways.”

Manager Mike Scioscia also viewed Nolasco’s outing with mixed feelings.

“There were some good pitches Ricky threw,” Scioscia said. “But 91 pitches for three-plus innings is a lot of work. I thought he lost some counts. He started off strong. Looked like he had good life on his fastball. But he had trouble getting to a certain point in the game.”

After Nolasco gave up a two-out double in the fourth, his night was over. Scioscia began emptying his bullpen, which he’s been forced to do almost every day since rosters expanded because of the poor work of the starters.

In the past nine games, the Angels have gotten their starter through six innings just one time. They’ve only finished four innings twice. That’s led Scioscia to summon 51 relievers in those nine games.

The four relievers on Friday did the job, keeping the Mariners scoreless, but the Angels offense was quiet after a hot start against Mike Leake.

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Brandon Phillips led off the game by hitting a ball 106 mph up the middle for a single. Mike Trout then yanked one 111 mph down the left field line, for a double. Justin Upton then hit a 107 mph shot into right field, driving in both runners. Albert Pujols then scuttled the rally by hitting into a double play, but even that was a 102 mph shot to third baseman Kyle Seager.

Up 2-0 after one inning, the Angels then didn’t get much else against Leake. He retired 13 in a row before Cron’s single in the fifth.

“He was throwing everything for strikes, and keeping us off balance,” Trout said.

The Angels didn’t score against him again until the sixth, when Pujols came through with a two-out single into left to drive in Upton. It was Pujols’ seventh hit in his last eight at-bats with two outs and a runner in scoring position.

In the ninth, Pujols hit a ball off the top of the fence, which Trout thought was going out. He thought the same thing about Brandon Phillips drive to the fence in the sixth, which was caught.

“Hitting the ball out of here at night ...” Trout said. “It’s damp and the ball doesn’t go as well.”