Maddon has talked about wanting to find established roles for his bullpen arms. Austin Warren, who has come out of nowhere to become one of the most effective relievers, also wasn’t available. The Angels didn’t have Raisel Iglesias available Saturday. “And you’re trying to match up the bullpen as best you can under the circumstances.

“You’re trying to piece together a win,” manager Joe Maddon said. And it showed just how tough it can be to piece together scoreless innings with pitchers constantly shifting into different roles.

But Saturday’s game showed just how vulnerable the bullpen can be when a couple of guys are unavailable. The team has played good baseball since then. When the Angels mostly stood pat at the trade deadline, it was because general manager Perry Minasian said this group deserved a chance to make a run. The Angels now sit seven games back of the second wild-card spot and 10 games out of the division lead. And just minutes later, the Angels’ four-game winning streak was snapped in a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers. Junior Guerra allowed three hits in his four batters faced. That week’s dominance underscored just how reflective the bullpen’s success is relative to this team winning and losing.Īnd on Saturday, that point was proved once again - just not in the way that the Angels would have liked. No matter the situation, the results were the same. Two games were close, one was a blowout and one was in between. It put together 14 1/3 scoreless innings over that stretch. LOS ANGELES - The backbone of the Angels’ four-game winning streak was the bullpen.

Where To Play Bullpen Blast