Angels let another lead slip away in series sweep to Guardians

ANAHEIM, Calif. – For the second-straight game, the Los Angeles blew a lead against the Cleveland Guardians and lost a game where they scored first on Wednesday, this time dropping the game 4-3 to lose the series against Cleveland. 

Even thought the Angels took the lead early on, it mostly wasn't to do with anything they were doing on the offensive end. Zach Neto singled to lead off the game and ended up scoring from first after Cleveland pitcher Joey Cantillo fielded what should have been a routine ground ball from Vaughn Grissom and fired it past his first baseman and into right field for the first run of the game. After that Cantillo's struggles only grew. 

Cantillo's control wavered on the mound just as it did when he was throwing to first and he walked three of the first four batters he faced to start the bottom of the second and load the bases. He followed that up by hitting Neto with a pitch to drive in a run and giving up a sacrifice fly to Mike Trout to drive in another run and improve the Angels to a 3-0 lead, but the scoring would stop there for the Halos. 

Ric Tapia – The Sporting Tribune

Zach Neto #9 of the Los Angeles Angels slides into home plate during the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 26, 2026 in Anaheim, California.

Can't capitalize on free passes

Despite walking eight times in the game to give them plenty of baserunners to work with, the Angels managed just three hits the entire game and left six runners on base.

"We had them on the ropes a lot. A lot of free passes, a lot of traffic on the bases… The big hit eluded us today," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. 

While the Angels offense stagnated, the Guardians slowly worked their way back from the 3-0 deficit. 

Ric Tapia – The Sporting Tribune

Tyler Heineman #31 of the Los Angeles Angels bunts during the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 26, 2026 in Anaheim, California.

They managed one run off of starter Grayson Rodriguez and added another run off Sammy Peralta in the top of the eighth inning. 

That set the stage for the top of the ninth with the Angels leading 3-2. 

Ninth Inning Disaster

Since flamethrower Ben Joyce had pitched the day before, Suzuki turned to Ryan Watson to close out the game, but things quickly went awry. 

Ric Tapia – The Sporting Tribune

Christian Moore #4 of the Los Angeles Angels throws to first base during the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 26, 2026 in Anaheim, California.

After getting the first out of the inning, Watson allowed three-straight hits, including a ground-rule double to Steven Kwan, that tied the game 3-3, erasing a lead the Angels held since the first inning.

"Just didn't execute pitches and that's bottom line," Watson said of the loss. "You can't go out there and expect to put zeroes with leaving pitches over the middle of the plate, which is what I did today… This one's on me."

Travis Bazzana stepped up next and hit a sacrifice fly to put the Guardians ahead 4-3 with their first lead of the game.

Watson made it out without scoring any other runs, but the damage and the Angels went down quietly in their half of the ninth to end their fifth loss in six games.

"They're [Cleveland] tough. Tough at-bats over there and we gave ourselves a chance to win, just couldn't finish it off," Suzuki said.