Ron Washington didn’t want to hear any sort of suggestion that Luis Guillorme wasn’t to blame for a failed squeeze bunt that ended an Angels scoring chance late in the game of what became a 7-6 loss to the Cardinals on Tuesday night.
The infielder, recently acquired from the Braves, missed an eighth-inning bunt attempt on a 1-1 slider from reliever JoJo Romero that resulted in Zach Neto — who was running home from third base — easily being tagged out at the plate.
And, four pitches later, Romero struck out Guillorme to end the inning, stranding another runner — Kyren Paris — on third.
The Bally Sports broadcast caught Washington looking particularly perturbed after the failed squeeze, and the Angels manager was adamant after the game that Guillorme failed to get the job done.
“Lefty on lefty, and with a sinkerballer on a left-hander, I didn’t want him to hit into a double play,” Washington explained after he was asked why he called for the squeeze. “He can handle the bat. He didn’t do the job. It wasn’t anything I did wrong. He didn’t do the job.”
Later in his postgame news conference, when a reporter suggested that Romero was throwing wildly, Washington scoffed at the notion.
The lefty had thrown just 15 of his 31 pitches for strikes.
“Wild? He was throwing it in the strike zone,” Washington said. “Why are you making excuses? He was throwing the ball in the strike zone. [Guillorme] did not get the bunt down. Period.”
Guillorme told reporters that he didn’t hear any of Washington’s comments and took responsibility for the failed attempt.
“[Romero] made a good pitch,” he said. “I didn’t get it down. I’ve got to try to put a bat on it. That’s it.”
The infielder was acquired by the Angels on May 9 in a trade with the Braves and has made four appearances for Los Angeles since.
Guillorme previously spent parts of six seasons with the Mets from 2018-2023 before signing a one-year deal with the Braves in January.
He hit .150 in nine games with Atlanta before the move.