May 20: Angels 6, White Sox 5
One bad bounce turned what could’ve been a thrilling comeback into yet another disheartening loss.
With the White Sox trailing 6-3 with two outs in the eighth inning, A.J. Pierzynski came to the plate against Fernando Rodney and promptly drove a double over the head of Juan Rivera.
There was just one problem. The ball hit the warning track and bounded over the wall as Hawk Harrelson bellowed:
Ball hit into left field… get over his head! It will! Thank you very m- don’t bounce over the fence! DADGUMMIT!
Juan Pierre, representing the tying run at first, would have scored easily. Instead, he had to go back to third, and Andruw Jones flew out harmlessly to center to end the rally.
Three more flyouts, this ballgame was ovah. At least this time they showed a pulse.
For most of the night — which began 29 minutes late thanks to a rain delay — the Sox didn’t show much of anything. Jake Peavy, much like he did against the Royals, started slow by giving up two runs on four hits in the first, and had almost a Javier Vazquezish night, in terms of how hits came in clumps. He gave up two runs in the first, third and sixth innings.
The Sox, meanwhile, started their night with A.J. Pierzynski out (although it looked like the tag was missed) by an easy margin trying to stretch a single into a double, his second baserunning out of the week. Ervin Santana dominated the Sox for seven innings, holding them to one unearned run. Alexei Ramirez scored it in the fifth when he reached on a bunt single, and Kevin Frandsen’s bad throw allowed Ramirez to make third. He scored on a Beckham groundout.
Record: 16-24 | Box score | Play-by-play
