July 5: White Sox 9, Angels 2
If Carlos Quentin isn’t back to full strength, then tonight was a hell of a tease.
He took a run off the board with an incredible diving, rolling catch on the warning track in the first inning, and then put three on the board for the Sox with two blasts to left field.
The Sox hit four homers in total, including Dayan Viciedo’s first one in the majors, en route to an easy victory in the opener of this four-game set.
Gavin Floyd won back-to-back games for the first time all season, and Quentin’s grab may have been a big reason why. He looked a little shaky in the early going, with Howie Kendrick pounding a double to right. Floyd rebounded with a strikeout of Bobby Abreu, but Torii Hunter followed with a hard, slicing liner to right.
The wind, which was blowing toward the left field foul pole pretty fiercely, may have slowed it down a little, and that allowed Quentin to catch up. Quentin left his feet, made the grab almost parallel to the ground, and then crashed and rolled into the fence to end the inning.
Alexei Ramirez homered for the second straight game in the bottom of the inning, and Brent Lillibridge delivered an RBI single to score Andruw Jones in the second to give Floyd some early padding.
They wouldn’t score again until the sixth, picking up Floyd after the Angels nicked him for a run to cut the White Sox lead in half. Sox hitters posted crooked numbers the rest of the night and knocked Scott Kazmir out of the game with an ugly line.
Paul Konerko came up with a big two-out hit, flipping a changeup into left field with one hand to score Juan Pierre. Quentin came up with a bigger one, digging out a low fastball and golfing it into the White Sox bullpen.
In the seventh, Viciedo ripped one into the bullpen with one out, and Ramirez went the other way for an RBI single. In the eighth, more of the same: Quentin hit a solo shot, and Viciedo knocked in a run with an opposite-field base hit.
There was only one real ugly patch, and it was understandable. Bobby Jenks looked rusty, walking two batters over just two-thirds of an inning in his first game back. Erick Threets looked like Randy Williams, walking the only batter he faced (Hideki Matsui) on five pitches.
Fortunately, Sergio Santos looked terrific. He overpowered Mike Napoli with fastballs and sliders to leave the bases loaded, then went three-up, three-down in the ninth for his first major-league save.
More notes:
*The Sox defense was terrific, with Alexei Ramirez and Brent Lillibridge making a couple great picks apiece. Paul Konerko also turned a 3-6 double play.
*Lillibridge was picked off at second, cutting the second-inning rally short.
Record: 43-38 | Box score | Play-by-play
Comments
Drill, Ozzie, Drill!