Dwight Smith Jr. homers, but O's lose 7-2 to Angels

Some rain fell and a few Albert Pujols fly balls fell over the fence. And after an early homer, there were not many highlights today for the Orioles.

The Los Angeles Angels beat the Birds 7-2 and have taken the first two games of this series in Baltimore. The Orioles fall to 13-26 and have lost four in a row, 10 of 13 and 14 of the last 19 games. The Angels are 11-2 their last 13 games versus the Orioles. The O's are 4-21 when scoring four runs or less.

Pujols produced his 59th career multi-homer day and first since July 12, 2018 against Seattle. His two-run homer in the first made it 2-0. His solo homer in the fourth off Dylan Bundy put Los Angeles ahead 3-2. Both homers gave his team the lead and both came off 89.4 mph fastballs.

Pujols hit No. 7 in the top of the first and it went 432 feet to left center. He hit No. 8 three innings later and it went 368 feet to left and just made it into the stands. Both counted and both were big.

Pujols is the active leader in multi-homer games and next on the list is Miguel Cabrera of Detroit with 39. Next up for Pujols to try and catch are Hank Aaron and Álex Rodríguez with 62 and Willie Mays at 63. Babe Ruth is the all-time leader with 72 games with more than one home run.

Pujols now has 3,110 hits, 641 homers and 2,003 RBIs. The four players with 3,000 or more career hits, 600 or more homers and 2,000 or more RBIs in major league history are Aaron, Mays, Rodríguez and Pujols.

Down 2-0 in the first, the Orioles got even on one swing. A Dwight Smith Jr. two-run homer to right on a curveball from Matt Harvey made it 2-2. It was No. 7 for Smith. But the Orioles offense missed out on a few chances today, including in those early innings. They stranded five in innings two and three and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position through five frames. They went 1-for-10 with RISP for the game and are 6-for-39 (.154) the past six games. They began today batting .230 on the year with RISP, tied for last in the American League.

In an ugly frame for the Orioles top of the sixth, the Angels scored three to lead 6-2 and pull away. The inning featured a walk, an error for catcher's interference and missed out at second base on a possible force when second baseman Jonathan Villar's foot did not touch the base. It was a long and messy inning.

Over the last three games, the Orioles have scored just six runs. During the four-game losing streak, they've scored 11.

In the series wrap-up game on Sunday afternoon, the scheduled starters are lefty John Means (4-3, 2.48 ERA) for Baltimore and right-hander Griffin Canning (1-0, 4.66 ERA) for Los Angeles.