Followed-from-work bullet point recap:
*Two years ago, the White Sox hit seven homers in a game and lost. This time around, they only hit six:
- Jose Abreu in the first
- Daniel Palka in the second
- Avisail Garcia, Palka and Nicky Delmonico in the seventh
- Abreu in the ninth
Unfortunately, all but Abreu’s second homer were solo shots.
*Of course, pitching was the bigger problem. Dylan Covey returned to succeeding only the first time through, and even then, he allowed a Kole Calhoun solo shot to start the game.
*Covey’s undoing came in the fifth. He retired the first two batters, but Justin Upton and Albert Pujols kept the inning alive with singles. Andrelton Simmons then shot a liner to left center that could’ve been a single, or at most a double.
Instead, it turned into a three-run Little League homer, first because Leury Garcia couldn’t cut the ball off the gap, and then Tim Anderson yanked the throw well high and wide of the plate, and Covey was nowhere to be found on the backup. Anderson was charged with an error, but that was a total team effort, and the Sox trailed 5-2 and forever more from that point forward.
*Justin Upton must’ve felt left out from Wednesday’s slugger parade, beause he went 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs amid mostly quiet afternoons from Pujols, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.
*The three seventh-inning homers — all off starter Nick Tropeano — cut the Angels’ lead to 6-5, but even if Tim Anderson didn’t strand the tying run in scoring position, it’s hard to see how the Sox would’ve been able to preserve a tie or lead with a compromised, Joakim Soria-less bullpen. Juan Minaya’s struggles continued, and it’s unclear why Chris Volstad is still around.
*The Angels swiped two bags off Kevan Smith. Baserunners are now 26-for-27 with him behind the plate, and he’s yet to throw out a runner himself.
*Abreu had the series he needed, going 7-for-16 with three homers, a double and three walks over the four-game set. He overtook Matt Davidson for the team lead with 16 dingers.
*This was the kind of loss that I expected to be far more frequent this season. There’s still time.
Record: 36-66 | Box score
Dead Spin’s Avery Yang was even less charitable about that Simmons “triple” or whatever it was.
https://deadspin.com/andrelton-simmons-lucked-into-a-little-league-homer-bec-1827909030
And why is Chris Volstad still around. Hopefully we wake up tomorrow to news that he’s been DFA’d
Looking at his history, Volstad’s career has been spent almost entirely in a starter role. And he has at least been somewhat credible. Now, I am not suggesting he start, but maybe this regular bullpen short relief role the Sox have him in is particularly wrong.
The three HRs in the 7th came after the game was delayed by bees. I feel strongly that the bee delay be part of the recorded history of this game.
It better bee!
Those three homers in the 7th were all majestic bombs.Â