Angels 8, White Sox 7: A game we just saw

The White Sox fell behind big to Andrew Heaney and the Angels before scoring enough runs late to force Hansel Robles to enter the proceedings and close the door for an 8-7 Anaheim victory.

Now, am I talking about tonight’s game, or Aug. 16?

They basically followed the same script, just with mild differences. This time, the pitching unraveled in the early innings with Dylan Covey, not the middle ones. This time, Shohei Ohtani did the early damage, not Mike Trout. This time, Kevan Smith hit the decisive homer, not Justin Upton.

This time, Ryan Goins was the one to reach innocuously on a play involving the catcher (Smith bounced an easy throw to first on a dropped strike three), not Tim Anderson (who reached on a swinging bunt in front of Max Stassi). This time, Jose Abreu hit the two-run homer to make it a one-run game, not Welington Castillo.

Alas, it ended the same way. The White Sox have now lost 10 of their last 12.

Bullet points:

*Abreu set a career high in RBIs with a first-inning sac fly, then hit his 30th homer of the season after getting plunked twice.

*Ohtani was a triple short of the cycle with five RBIs through three plate appearances, but Jose Ruiz broke the spell by snaring his line drive.

*Covey and Carson Fulmer combined for a miserable fifth inning, which only ended because Adam Engel made a terrific catch on the warning track in right center.

*The White Sox struck out 13 times against zero walks, although Abreu did get plunked twice by Heaney.

*Kelvin Herrera balked for the second time in three games, and again without good reason (not coming to a set).

*Zack Collins had major problems catching Covey and Fulmer. They combined for three wild pitches that weren’t all that wild. He also went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

*Tim Anderson was charged with his 25th error on a relay throw home that sailed over Collins. That was on Ohtani’s double, which Eloy Jiménez struggled to corral because it kicked off the side screen.

Record: 62-80 | Box score | Highlights

Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
20 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
iowasox1971

Why was Covey allowed to start another game for us?

He’s now 6-29 in his career with a 6.46 ERA.

His .171 career winning percentage might be the worst in team history for someone with 35 decisions. (I was unable to verify this.) It’s amazing that this ended up being only a one-run loss.

Please do not have Covey pitch for us again. This is not working.

On the bright side, congratulations to Abreu for again surpassing the 30-homer mark and setting a career high in runs batted in. Also nice to see Anderson increase his lead in the batting-title race.

Collins seemed to struggle tonight, but we might as well give the kid more opportunities to catch, preferably when someone other than Covey starts the game.

burning-phoneix

It’s baffling. At this point, I would even prefer Ross Detwiler on the mound. Hell, I’d even bring back James Shields.

metasox

Maybe Collins was a bit rusty last night. But Sox management has seen him behind the plate since ’16. They likely already have a good idea how much catching they see him doing going forward.

PauliePaulie

Zack Collins started at C vs. a LH Starter.

Trooper Galactus

They pulled Covey for Fulmer in the third, not the fifth. Thank god, because Covey would have needed 500 pitches to get to the fifth at the rate he was going.

My mom called me this morning out of the blue and asked me if I want to go/take her to the game. I’m like, well, I gotta mow my lawn and do some work, and…holy hell, Dylan Covey is pitching. Are you sure you want to go? She’s like, yeah, it’ll be fun, and I wanted to spend some time with her anyhow, so I picked her up and we headed up to the park. She asked me as the game started why I wasn’t keen on going to this game and I told her Covey was gonna get teed off on the second time through the order. Guy made me look like an oracle.

burning-phoneix

When someone ask me what my craziest Baseball factoid is, I always say “Dylan Covey outpitched Chris Sale once”. I have a hard time believing that happened, I literally doubt it ever happened now.

lil jimmy

Or,
Covey was drafted the next pick after Chris Sale. There’s a factiod for you.

lil jimmy

You got to spend time with your Mom. That’s a win right there.

Trooper Galactus

The real reason I went. I had a great time, and it wasn’t because of the White Sox.

ImmortalTimeTravelMan

ESPN says we’ve gotten the worst production in the league for both our RF and DH spots (Only 3 HR’s from RF all year). At least one of those positions needs to be fixed for next year, right?

roke1960

Both must be fixed. Or sign 2 good corner outfielders and make Eloy the DH.

hitlesswonder

So, to compete for .500 next season I would see the shopping list as being: SP, RF, LF/DH

It’s funny that RF/DH production was so bad that just fielding replacement level players at those positions would be a significant boost…those positions were almost -7 WAR this season.

I suppose one could make a case that it’s an indictment of management that they can’t even find replacement-level players…

roke1960

Absolutely. To get only 3 HRs from the right fielder and have most of the DHs below .200 is just shameful. It’s like they didn’t even try to find decent players- they seemed to be happy with the status quo.

5742mail

Tale of two players who had all star season in 2027. You sign the one who obp was better,based on walks, The one you had hit for a better average and you let him go. Money being almost equal, Avi Garcia would have been great in right and might have been a help to Eloy.

Trooper Galactus

Why does everybody keep lamenting letting Avi go when he absolutely stunk up the place for five of his six seasons here? And while he’s having an okay season this year, it’s not like this would have happened had he stuck around nor is it anything special.

christmastime

Simple, Avi was better than his replacements….way better by the numbers

christmastime

The next player to be lamented will be Yolmer if replaced by Mendick/Goins

roke1960

Yolmer should be replaced by Madrigal.

roke1960

I’ve been pushing for nontendering Yolmer because paying $5 million to a backup on a team that pinches pennies isn’t very smart.