Logan O’Hoppe walked off the field feeling terrible. He made a big mistake in the 10th inning that gave the Houston Astros a 5-4 win on Monday night. The Los Angeles Angels are having a bad season with a 25-41 record, and this was another painful loss they wanted to avoid.

The Angels were leading 4-3 in the ninth inning and were on their way to a win. But the team’s relief pitchers collapsed and let the Astros tie the game. This has been the pattern all year for them. The game ended in the 10th inning because of a huge mistake by the $2.6 million catcher.

“You give everything in this game, and it takes more than it gives,” the young star said after the game. “I’m pretty sick to my stomach about it and pissed off. Been pissed off for a while about how things have been going defensively. Been working my ass off to fix it, and it’s just really frustrating.”

It makes sense why O’Hoppe is frustrated. He has been batting with an average of .194 with just 2 homers and an OPS of .554. Although his offense is a problem, the bigger problem is his defense. As a catcher, defense behind the plate is one of the most important things, and he has been failing at it.

According to Baseball Savant, his fielding run value is -7, showing that his defense over the season has been very shaky. A catcher needs to catch pitches well and stop runners from moving to the next base. Statistics show his blocking and catching are among the worst in the league this year. This costs the team a lot of runs.

The defensive weakness showed against the Astros as well. In the 10th inning, Houston’s Jose Altuve was on third base. Jake Meyers hit a high ball, teammate Nick Madrigal caught it, and threw it to home plate. The ball bounced awkwardly, and O’Hoppe was not able to grab it. The ball got away from him, allowing Altuve to score, and O’Hoppe got the error for losing the game.

After the game, O’Hoppe said that he tried to create space to gather the ball at one hop but read it wrong. And that shows why O’Hoppe was so frustrated with himself.

But the question is, does the full blame lie on Logan O’Hoppe, or should the bullpen be taking some part of the blame after another blown save?

The Angels’ bullpen needs to get it together for the sake of the team

Did the Angels lose this game because of an error by Logan O’Hoppe? Yes, but that’s just part of the picture. Because the bullpen has been blowing games for the team since the season started. The Los Angeles Angels‘ bullpen has been one of the weakest units in the MLB this season. Their bullpen has an ERA of 4.90, showing how the control of the game slips when the relief pitchers come in.

They also have a WHIP of 1.510, showing how runners reach base consistently, and the pitching increases pressure unnecessarily. The worst numbers are that the Angels have had only 6 saves in the entire season, but have blown 14 games.

This same failure happened against the Astros. They controlled the game heading into the ninth inning and led 4-3 before Kirby Yates walked Jeremy Peña to start the inning. Peña then stole second base, creating pressure. Christian Walker followed that with a single that brought in Peña and tied the game. That sequence forced extra innings, and the Angels let another game slip away. But this is just another game in a long list of blown saves.

Back in April, the Angels blew two games against the Yankees. In one game, the Angels led 4-3 going into the 9th inning. But a pop-up was misjudged by the infield, and they let the ball drop. This put Jazz Chisholm Jr. on first, who then stole second. Then Jordan Romano walked Austin Wells. This set up Jose Caballero to hit a slider to left center, giving the Yankees a 5-4 win over the Angels.

A few days later, the Angels led 10-8 in the ninth. They gave up three runs and lost 11-10.

The Angels are now 16 games under .500. Their season is slipping away fast. The mistake by Logan O’Hoppe was frustrating, but the team has a much bigger problem. Until the relief pitchers learn how to protect a lead, these bad losses will keep happening.