ANAHEIM, Calif. — In the eighth inning, the Angels had a chance to make up for what they hadn’t done over the first seven innings. They failed. After getting only four baserunners in the first seven innings, the Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth only to come up empty in what would become a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. Once the Angels got past Twins ...

Kody Clemens of the Minnesota Twins high-fives teammates in the dugout after scoring during the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Anaheim, California.

Nicole Vasquez/Getty Images North America/TNS

ANAHEIM, Calif. — In the eighth inning, the Angels had a chance to make up for what they hadn’t done over the first seven innings.

They failed.

After getting only four baserunners in the first seven innings, the Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth only to come up empty in what would become a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.

Once the Angels got past Twins left-hander Connor Prielipp, who stymied them for most of the night, they had a shot against right-hander Tommy Nance.

Christian Moore and Wade Meckler singled, and then Zach Neto drew a four-pitch walk, bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate.

Mike Trout then struck out, the final two strikes coming on swings at pitches out of the zone. Pinch-hitter Josh Lowe also struck out, then Vaughn Grissom hit a line drive to left field.

“Chase out of the zone and that got us,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “I think loading the bases, putting us in a position to do some stuff over there, to do some damage, was definitely a good thing. Obviously we would have liked to be successful, but that’s sometimes baseball. Obviously execution and that big hit that we’ve talked about the last couple weeks that eluded us, eluded us tonight.”

Before that, the Angels (59-95) had managed just two hits and two walks in an anemic performance against Prielipp, who brought a 5.24 ERA to the mound. Neto hit a ball that left fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez caught with a leap at the fence. Denzer Guzman also hit a fly ball to the warning track.

“I felt like when we did hit it, we’ve hit it pretty decently,” Suzuki said. “We hit some balls to the track or pretty good balls. It looked like he had a good curveball, slider thing that he was throwing that was missing bats. He was good. He mixed it up. He was pretty tough.”

The Angels have struggled to hit for most of the second half of the season, although they’ve shown more signs of life over the past week.

The most positive development of the night was starter Grayson Rodriguez having his first quality start since Aug. 20. Rodriguez gave up three runs in 62/3 innings. It was also his first start of the season without a walk.

Rodriguez bounced back nicely from a rough first inning to have a solid start.

Rodriguez hit the first batter of the game with a pitch, and then he gave up a single, putting runners at the corners. The Angels got an out at the plate on a groundout. A sacrifice fly drove in a run.

Rodriguez then appeared to be out of the inning without further damage, when Trout, the center fielder, got his glove on a line drive as he lunged for it. The ball dropped, though, as a run scored. It was ruled a hit.

After that, Rodriguez tacked on five scoreless innings, before allowing a solo homer to Walker Jenkins in the seventh.

“I thought Grayson pitched well,” Suzuki said. “After the first inning he settled in. Gave up a home run obviously late to Jenkins off the pole. But other than that, I thought he was in control the whole time and attacking the strike zone. Everything was looking good.”

Rodriguez likely has one more start left in his comeback season. So far, he has a 5.96 ERA in 19 starts, with 83 strikeouts in 932/3 innings.

His raw stuff has suggested hints that he could become closer to the pitcher he was before he missed a season and a half because of injuries. His fastball has averaged 96 mph, and he’s gotten whiffs on 34% of his changeups. Both numbers are nearly identical to what he did it in 2024.

The Angels have control over Rodriguez, 26, for three more seasons.

He’s been encouraged by his progress so far.

“I feel like I’ve come a long way since the start,” Rodriguez said. “Lately, I feel like it’s been getting a lot better for me, in terms of just being able to throw strikes, not just with one or two pitches, but all pitches. I think for me, that’s important. Obviously, throwing four pitches and being able to get in the zone with all four is big. That’s a key to success for me. I feel like I’ve started to do that a little bit better here lately.”