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Angels blow lead in 9th, spoiling another Mike Trout homer

April 16, 2026

NEW YORK — If you stopped watching the Angels game in the second inning on Wednesday night, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they lost.

You would, however, have been saved a lot of anguish by not seeing the way it happened.

After falling into a quick three-run hole, the Angels played a solid game and got another homer from Mike Trout, to take a one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, before it all fell apart in a 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees.

Shortstop Zach Neto and third baseman Oswald Peraza allowed a routine one-out pop-up to drop. Right-hander Jordan Romano couldn’t get another out, and the Angels had to watch the Yankees celebrate a come-from-behind, walk-off win for the second time in the series.

“I’m not gonna sit here and say these didn’t hurt,” first-year Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “They’re definitely stingers. Guys in there, they work their butts off. To lose close games like this, it’s tough. But tomorrow’s another day. Forget about it, move on. We’ve got a big league ballgame to win tomorrow.”

Not long before Suzuki stood outside a solemn clubhouse, the Angels were in position for a satisfying victory. They had overcome Jack Kochanowicz’s rough beginning – he walked three and allowed three runs in the first two innings – to take a 4-3 lead in the fifth.

Adam Frazier and Logan O’Hoppe hit solo homers, and then Trout hit a two-run homer in the fifth to put the Angels on top. It was the third straight game with a homer for Trout, who has hit four in the series and six on the year.

Kochanowicz and left-hander Drew Pomeranz held that lead until Romano took the mound in the bottom of the ninth.

After left fielder Bryce Teodosio made a spectacular catch of a line drive for the first out, Romano got Jazz Chisholm Jr. to hit a routine pop-up on the left side of the infield. Both Neto and Peraza were under it.

No one caught it.

“It’s just my fault,” Neto said. “The shortstop has priority over everybody and I should have caught the ball. Just miscommunication. I take full responsibility of that. I should have went out there and caught it.”

Chisholm then stole second base, and Romano walked Austin Wells.

Both players were running on the 1-and-2 pitch to José Caballero, who drilled a line drive into left center. Chisholm easily scored the tying run and Wells barely beat O’Hoppe’s tag to score the winning run.

Romano, who had not allowed a run in his first six games of the season, gave up five runs in a pair of blown saves in this series, getting only one out.

“It’s tough, for sure,” Romano said. “I felt good. I was grinding out there, just couldn’t get the job done.”

Romano said, even after the dropped pop-up, it’s his responsibility to “let it go and make good pitches after that.”

It was a crushing loss for the Angels (9-10) on a night when Trout continued sizzling and Kochanowicz turned a bad start into an encouraging outing.

Kochanowicz gave up a homer to Aaron Judge in the first and then he walked three of the next five hitters. After Kochanowicz issued a four-pitch walk to Caballero in the second, O’Hoppe came to the mound.

“I can’t quite put my finger on it, just the feel wasn’t there early,” Kochanowicz said. “Obviously the walks really didn’t help me, and I feel like they always score those free passes. The general mechanics feel wasn’t there early on, and I found it.”

Kochanowicz had thrown just 43% of his 30 pitches for strikes at the time of O’Hoppe’s visit, but he threw strikes with 72% of his pitches the rest of the way.

One of those strikes was punched into left field by Trent Grisham for a two-run single, putting the Yankees ahead 3-0 in the second.

After that, though, he did not give up another run and he only walked one more hitter, getting through 6⅔ innings.

The bottom of the fifth was particularly impressive. Just after Trout’s homer gave the Angels their 4-3 lead, Kochanowicz went through the top three hitters in the Yankees’ lineup on just five pitches.

The defense helped maintain the lead, including a leaping catch from Frazier and Teodosio’s grab, until it all unraveled quickly.

“We lost, so of course it’s frustrating,” Neto said. “We have more games, so we just move on from this one learn from it.”

Orange County Register

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Angels blow lead in 9th, spoiling another Mike Trout homer

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