Red Sox Complete 3-Game Sweep of Angels 7-5 as Suarez Exits Injured

Q: Is another costly error a sign the Angels' decade of failure is destined to continue despite young talent?

Yes. Neto’s latest error is less an isolated mistake than a symptom of why the Angels’ losing cycle keeps repeating. The immediate evidence is stark: the Angels have not had a winning season since 2015 or reached the postseason since 2014, and this six-game skid fits that pattern. In Sunday’s loss, Neto’s major league-leading 14th error directly opened the door for Willson Contreras’ three-run homer, turning a winnable game into another defeat. More broadly, outside reporting shows the Angels remain near the bottom of MLB in defensive performance, with poor run-prevention metrics and one of the league’s highest error totals. Those mistakes routinely extend innings and strain a bullpen that has also been a weakness. That does not mean the young talent is the problem. Neto, Jo Adell, Logan O’Hoppe and José Soriano still give the Angels a credible core, and Soriano in particular has looked like a real rotation piece. Neto himself remains productive enough offensively to be part of a future winner. But the larger issue is that the club’s young players are developing inside an organization that still shows the same flaws: shaky defense, thin bullpen depth, injuries, and uneven roster construction. So the error is a warning sign, not a prophecy. The Angels are not doomed because they lack talent; they are in danger of wasting that talent unless they fix the structural problems that have defined the last decade. Right now, the evidence says those problems remain very much in place.

3 articles · Updated · ESPN · Jul 6

Boston finished a three-game sweep with a 7-5 win in Anaheim, its eighth victory in 10 games, despite losing starter Ranger Suarez in the third inning.
Suarez left with left adductor tightness after jumping for Jo Adell’s chopper, but five relievers limited Los Angeles to two runs over the final 6 1/3 innings.
Jarren Duran’s 13th homer tied the game 2-2, and Willson Contreras’ 20th homer — a 446-foot shot after Zach Neto’s 14th error — put Boston ahead 5-3.
Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly and Masataka Yoshida’s RBI single added two insurance runs in the seventh before Aroldis Chapman secured his 18th save.
The loss extended the Angels’ skid to six games and left them 12 losses in 19 games since June 14.