Starter Kevin Millwood turned in his worst performance of the season, allowing nine earned runs in only five innings of work, putting Texas in a hole they were never able to climb out of.
"I didn't hit my spots. When I tried to go away, it would drift over the middle of the plate. And when I didn't hit my spots, they hit those mistakes," Millwood said.
The loss was only Millwood's second in his last eight starts.
"When you look at their lineup, one through six, that's as good as it gets," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Sometimes you get through it and sometimes you don't. Seven, eight and nine aren't easy either. That's a tough lineup to make it through, and we didn't get it done."
The offense gave Millwood an early 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI base hit by Hank Blalock and an error which allowed Josh Hamilton to score but, save for a 2-run homer by Ian Kinsler after the game was out of reach, didn't manage anything else against Angels starter Jered Weaver.
Prior to Monday nights game, Millwood had held opponents to a .189 average with runners in scoring position. Highlighted by a 3-run blast by Jeff Mathis and 2-RBI nights by both Torii Hunter and Juan Rivera, the Angels hit .750 going 6-for-8.
"You've got to give them credit; they swung the bats well," Rangers third baseman Michael Young said. "The middle of their lineup did a great job. It's just one of those times where you chalk it up to being one of those nights. When Millwood is on the mound, we feel we have a good shot of winning, but it just didn't happen."
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