The Angels miss an opportunity in a 13-yard loss to the Rays

ST. PETERSBURG — It was a frustrating game of missed opportunities, defensive breakdowns and good leadership for the Angels on Tuesday.

The Angels appeared headed for a convincing victory, leading the Rays by two runs with two outs in the ninth when closer Carlos Estévez lined a grounder up the middle off Harold Ramírez. It was a tough play to his right for second baseman Luis Rengifo, but he couldn’t quite make it, and it opened the door for Tampa Bay. Two batters later, Estévez gave up a game-tying triple to José Caballero to send the game into extra innings.

It further upset the Angels with a 7-6 loss in the 13th inning, as they gave up several scoring opportunities and still took the lead in the 10th, 11th and 13th innings but could not stop the Rays. Long reliever Carson Fulmer held the Rays scoreless in the 12th and exited to protect the lead with one run in the 13th, allowing only a double to Richie Palacios and a groundout to slow Amed Rosario base to third to end it.

“We had chances to win, they had chances to win, and we kept coming back and forth, but they outplayed us,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “I loved how my guys hung in there and kept coming back and kept fighting. In the end, someone had to win, and they did, but we’ll be back tomorrow.”

The Angels played the cleanest baseball until the ninth and extra innings and looked like they were headed for the win until Rengifo’s leadoff single in the ninth. But Washington said it was a tough game and did not blame Rengifo for the lack of success.

“Any time the ball hits their glove, you want them to do it, but that wasn’t an easy game,” Washington said. “It wasn’t a normal play. Even if he got it, he probably had trouble finding the guy at first.

The Angels rallied to score in the 10th on a wild pitch and right fielder José Cisnero was brought in with reliever Adam Cimber out after two straight games. Cisnero also looked like he was about to get out of trouble with runners on the corner and one out, as he made a play to the runner but made the mistake of throwing to first after the runner escaped to home. Cisnero avoided further trouble but it was another costly defensive error.

“I just think he made a bad decision,” Washington said. “He caught the ball and the guy was right there. He’s got to be able to judge whether he can get it or not. And he just got caught in the middle. If he made that play, we could have won the game, but that’s the way baseball is.

The Angels had another chance to put it away in the 11th when they loaded the bases with nobody out as Monday’s hero Mike Trout was at the plate. But Trout popped up before Taylor Ward hit a huge drive to center that was caught by Jose Siri to save the game for the Rays and hold the Angels to just one out.

After Cisnero struck out another in the 11th, both clubs were tied in the 12th, including a strong showing from Fulmer. But after the Angels retook the lead in the 13th on an RBI single from Zach Neto, Fulmer was forced to retire in the bottom of the frame.

Fulmer, who grew up near Lakeland, Fla., came close to getting the win, but instead was saddled with the unfortunate hit after giving up a fastball to Palacios and getting hit on an infield single.

“This one hurts, this one definitely hurts,” Fulmer said. “Especially the way we fought so hard. But I will definitely take advantage of the next opportunity.”

Estévez was similarly optimistic, as he said he believes the Angels have been resilient early this season and will bounce back. It was the first save of the year for Estévez, who entered with a 0.00 ERA in five innings, but was still pleased with how the Angels battled after the ninth inning.

“I really like the way we approached the game,” Estévez said. “It’s unfortunate that we lost a weak base. But I like how we attacked in extra time and didn’t give up.”