One Inning Unraveled Everything. The Halos Have to Learn From It.

Saturday in Houston was going so well. Then the sixth inning happened.

The Angels came into Daikin Park riding a 2-0 high, looking like a team with genuine momentum. They jumped on Cristian Javier early — Nolan Schanuel launched a three-run homer, Jorge Soler went deep for two more, and the Angels carried a 5-3 lead into the middle innings. Reid Detmers was dealing, punching out nine batters through four and two thirds innings. Everything was pointing toward a series win.

Then Walbert Ureña entered in the sixth inning. What followed was a nightmare.

Houston sent 13 batters to the plate in the sixth. The Astros scored eight runs. Eight. In one inning. The Angels committed three errors on the night — and while Ureña and Joey Lucchesi couldn't stop the bleeding on the mound, the errors turned a manageable situation into a massacre. When the dust settled the Astros had an 11-5 lead and the game was effectively over.

Credit the Angels for not quitting. They clawed back three runs in the ninth to make it 11-9, but it wasn't enough. Final score Astros 11, Angels 9, and just like that the perfect start has a blemish.

Think about what could have been. Clean up one error in that sixth inning and maybe it's a five or six run inning instead of eight. A heads-up defensive play or two and Ureña escapes with the lead still intact. The Angels scored nine runs in that game. Nine. On most nights in most ballparks against most pitching staffs, nine runs means you're celebrating in the clubhouse. Instead they're on a bus replaying a collapse that didn't have to happen. That's the part that stings the most — this wasn't a game the Astros took from them. It was a game the Angels handed over.

The brutal truth is that this game was winnable right up until the moment it wasn't. Detmers was excellent. The offense put up nine runs against a Houston staff that was supposed to be formidable. The problem was a bullpen inning that completely fell apart — made worse by the kind of defensive mistakes that can't happen if this team wants to be taken seriously.

Three errors in a game where your offense gives you every opportunity to win is inexcusable. The Angels know it.

The positive spin, and there is one, is that nothing about this loss says the Angels aren't a good team. They scored nine runs. Detmers gave them a chance. The offense has now scored 21 runs in three games this series. Peraza went three for four with a homer. Trout reached base three times again. This isn't a team that's suddenly broken.

But the rotation depth question got louder on Saturday. Detmers wasn't the issue — he was great. The moment the bullpen had to hold a lead in the middle innings, it fell apart in spectacular fashion. That's the part that needs fixing, and fast.

The Angels still have a chance to win the series today. A 2-1 series finish against Houston on the road to open the season is still a very good result. But Saturday was a reminder that this team has work to do, and that the margin for error in a bullpen inning is razor thin.

On to Sunday.