Key Takeaways from the Angels Loss to the Mets

Yet again the Angels offense went cold at home and the bullpen coughed up a lead.

Apr 21, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels third baseman Yoan Moncada (10) hits an RBI single against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Yet again the Angels offense went cold at home and the bullpen coughed up a lead. The 2026 Angels are a lot like the movie Groundhog Day. Facing a Mets team that has also been struggling lately the Angels really needed a win tonight but failed to get one.

The losing streak stretches to 7 games. Here are the key takeaways.

Yoan Moncada needs to sit.

Not only is Moncada completely lost at the plate, his defensive miscues continue to hurt the Angels. A ball off his glove opened the floodgate in the Mets 3 run 6th inning. Currently batting .174 and slugging .315, Moncada is hurting the team offensively. He went 0 for 4 and struck out 3 times tonight.

Not only is Moncada on the downslope of his career, the Angels have a younger, better performing player in Oswald Peraza who needs playing time to further develop.

This game was lost the minute the Angels needed the bullpen to pitch 4 innings.

Moncada's gaffe certainly did not help, but let's be real. When Walbert Urena exited the game with 12 outs to go Angels fans knew that 3 runs were not enough. Sure enough, before the end of the frame the score was tied. The following inning the lead was blown.

Ben Joyce and Kirby Yates both pitch in A ball tomorrow. Joyce has looked good, Yates not so much. But at this point it is hard to not see both as major improvements over somebody. Those two should join the Angels on this homestand.

The offense continues to struggle at home.

Even with last week's funk, the Angels offense is scoring nearly 4 runs more per game on the road than at home. Part of that is the wild series in the bandbox in New York. But the lack of runs at home is alarming.

Yes, Angels Stadium is a neutral ballpark and the Angels have played in launching pads like New York and Houston. But with the team playing half their games in Anaheim this is not a good sign.

Kurt Suzuki's lineup was not set up to score runs.

Mar 17, 2026; Mesa, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Angels manager Kurt Suzuki against the Chicago Cubs during a spring training game at Sloan Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

As mentioned above, Oswald Peraza is greatly outperforming Yoan Moncada. But it was Moncada who got the start. In the previous10 games to tonight, Moncada was 4 for 20 with 7 K's. Plus he has been bad with the glove.

It was nice to see Adam Frazier in the game. Over his last 10 games he was hitting a little over .360. His lefty bat slots in nicely in the order. The problem is Josh Lowe is hitting .217 with a .348 slugging percentage over his last 10 games. Frazier has some experience in left field and can hardly be worse with the glove.

Moving Frazier to left, playing Grissom at second, and playing Peraza at third would have kept the hot bats in the lineup and given the team a much better chance at scoring runs.

The Angels are already playing one weak bat out of necessity in Travis d'Arnaud. Putting Lowe in front of him just assured back to back outs. You just can't win games by having a two player hole in the lineup.

A Mets sweep is really likely.

Tonight's pitching match up was a wild card. Walbert Urena did a solid job and handed the bullpen a lead. He just handed them the ball too early; not that that was his fault.

The Mets have a solid edge in starting pitching both tommorrow and Sunday. Add that to a bullpen who can keep a lead and the Mets have a solid advantage in innings 1 through 9. Baseball can be a crazy game but the Angels will be underdogs in the next two games.