moment he needed to pick up his teammates by getting dangerous slugger Yordan Alvarez.

“You gotta minimize the damage and make a pitch,” Sandoval said. “I did make a pitch. I just didn’t do my part on the defensive end.”

Alvarez to hit a bouncer to the right side. It got past first baseman Jared Walsh, but second baseman Brandon Drury was there to easily handle it. Sandoval had not broken from the mound in time to cover first, though.

“That’s on me right there,” Sandoval said. “I kind of gave up on it when it got by Walsh. I didn’t see Drury there. It should have been at least one out at first. Just kind of frustrated with myself at that point.”

That was the end of Sandoval’s day, but more runs were about to be added to his line.

Moments after Sandoval walked off the mound, right-hander Jacob Webb’s first pitch to Alex Bregman was deposited into the Crawford Boxes above the left-field fence.

Because the infield misplays were charitably ruled hits, all six runs Sandoval allowed were earned, which lifted his ERA to 4.14.

Despite the ugly final line, and the defensive mistake, Sandoval said he was encouraged by results of some tweaks he’d made his last start. His average fastball was 93.3 mph, up a tick from his average through the rest of the season. He said his changeup and curve ball were also better than they had been.

“I saw some improvements with the velo and stuff,” Sandoval said. “It’s just unfortunate how it ended up.”

Sandoval was also relieved to see that his teammates were able to make it a game after the fourth-inning nightmare.

In the seventh inning, Hunter Renfroe homered, Luis Rengifo doubled, Soto walked, Shohei Ohtani doubled and Trout singled to produce four runs. Ohtani’s double was one of his four hits. The Angels loaded the bases before Renfroe grounded out to end the inning with the score 7-5.

Flame-throwing rookie Ben Joyce then took the mound and learned that big-league hitters can get to any fastball.

Although he averaged 101.9 mph with his 29 fastballs, he allowed a single and a homer on pitches at 101 or harder. He also gave up a double on a slider.

“You gotta get ahead of guys,” Nevin said. “I don’t care how hard you throw. And you do have to mix in some secondary pitches.”

The four-run deficit that Joyce left put the Angels in a deeper hole, and they managed just one in the ninth on a Ryan Pressly wild pitch.

Finishing with six runs was certainly some solace for the Angels, although it merely highlighted how different the game could have been if they hadn’t given away so much earlier.

“We shot ourselves in the foot in the fourth,” Nevin said. “The game looks a lot different.”