Red Sox Nipped by Angels 5-4 End West Coast Trip 7-3 [VIDEO]

The Boston Red Sox were nipped by the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Wednesday afternoon, as the Angels hit back-to-back homers in the 5th inning, after the Red Sox had tied the score 2-2. The loss meant  the Red Sox ended their West Coast road trip with a still successful 7-3 record.

Eduardo Rodriguez started for the Red Sox. The Red Sox had won E-Rod's last 6 starts dating back to June 5, even though he was 1-0 with 5 no decisions. It wasn't to be the case Wednesday as he allowed 9 hits and 4 runs in 5 innings. He struck out 5 and didn't walk a batter.

In the 5th inning, he allowed a homer to Shohei Ohtani, his 32nd of the season, and that was followed by  a homer by Jared Walsh, his 21st of the season.

Boston, had tied the score in the 5th inning when Bobby Dalbec hit a fastball off the left field wall, scoring Christian Arroyo. Alex Verdugo singled scoring Christian Vazquez.

Xander Bogaerts was 3-4 with a pair of doubles, driving in a run.

JD Martinez was 1-3 with a triple and walk, extending his major-league leading on-base streak to 25 games.

Christian Arroyo was 2-4, driving in a run

The Red Sox had only 1 available reserve player, Conner Wong, as Danny Santana and Marwin Gonzalez were banged up and unavailable.

Hirakazu Sawamura pitched a scoreless 6th inning.

Darwinzon Hernandez pitched the 7th inning, allowing 1 hit, and 1 run, a home run to Jared Walsh, his 22nd of the season. Walsh ended the day 2-4 driving in 3 runs.

Garrett Whitlock pitched the 8th, striking out the side. He has allowed just 2 earned runs over his last 19.1 innings.

Manager Alex Cora on the game

The Tampa Bay Rays swept a doubleheader with the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday 8-1 and 4-0 and now trail the Red Sox by just 2 and a half games. The Rays are off on Thursday, and open a series at home against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

The Red Sox are also off on Thursday. They return to Fenway and are scheduled to play a 3 game series with the Philadelphia Phillies before the All-Star break. Garrett Richards is scheduled to pitch Friday night, with the pre-game starting at 6:10 and first pitch at 7:10 on AM 1370 WDEA.