White Sox 7, Angels 3: Big answers
The White Sox secured a winning May with effective counterpunching.
When Lucas Giolito allowed a solo shot to the first batter he faced, the White Sox offense manufactured him a run right back.
And when the Angels regained the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth, the White Sox responded with a five-run outburst that put the score in a safe place the rest of the way.
Andrew Vaughn struck the big blow, unloading the bases with a first-pitch double to the left-center gap off Tyler Anderson in the fourth inning, but the Sox had plenty of contributors elsewhere. Jake Burger and Luis Robert Jr. backed up Tim Anderson’s hard-luck 0-for-4 with three hits apiece, including two doubles by Robert that set up RBI opportunities down the chain. Further down the lineup, Romy González had two run-scoring hits, including a solo shot in the sixth inning for his third straight game with a homer.
They all helped cover for a so-so start by Giolito, although “so-so” represented a sizable improvement over his last time out.
Giolito endured plenty of loud contact, with 10 hard-hit balls on his line. His fastball in particular got pasted when he missed with it, including the homers by Taylor Ward in the first, and Shohei Ohtani in the fourth. He had better luck with his slider than any other pitch, and he ended up setting a single-game high with that pitch by throwing 40 of them tonight (previous high: 38), and that allowed him to fight his way through five.
Sox bats rewarded him for his resilience. In the first, the Sox put runners on second and third after a single by Burger and a double by Robert, and Eloy Jiménez delivered a sac fly to even the score at 1.
Their second trip through the lineup against Anderson was even more fruitful. Robert led off the fourth with a double, then advanced to third on Jiménez’s broken-bat dying quail, as he had to wait for it to drop. Yoán Moncada looked at five pitches to load the bases, and when Anderson started Vaughn with a changeup, Vaughn looked ready for it. It was on the outside corner, but elevated, and Vaughn was able to elevate it to the left-center gap to make it a 4-3 game.
Andrew Benintendi bunted Vaughn over to third (it was an attempt for a drag bunt single), and González sliced a double inside the right-field line for Vaughn could trot home. González then worked harder to cross the plate himself, stealing third and heading home when Gio Urshela whiffed on the throw.
That made it 6-3, and while the White Sox had their usual issues scoring on a bullpen, at least González got them a run with a no-doubter on Chase Silseth’s spinning slider.
The White Sox bullpen was equally stout, and in longer appearances. Reynaldo López threw a perfect sixth, then followed it up with a perfect seventh, striking out four. Aaron Bummer wasn’t trusted to get through the full inning, but Kendall Graveman closed out his eighth, then worked around some ninth-inning wildness for the final three outs. Liam Hendriks was seen warming in the bullpen in case Graveman needed backup, but the ample cushion never made it seem likely.
Bullet points:
*Seby Zavala went 0-for-3 at the bottom of the order, but he managed to wear out Anderson with a 15-pitch at-bat. He hit six straight foul balls after a full count, including one where he literally threw the bat at it. Chris Kamka said it was the longest White Sox plate appearance since Frank Thomas saw 17 pitches in 2004.
*Zavala also saved López a walk by calling for a mound visit when the pitch clock was about to run out on López with a full count.
*Vaughn was cut down at second trying to advance on a wild pitch for the third out of the second inning, and he was out by a couple of steps. It wasn’t the most sensible risk with Zavala at the plate, as the Sox would’ve been better off turning the lineup over for the third.
*Moncada once again fell on a swing in the eighth inning, but he stayed in the game without defensive replacing.
*González became the third White Sox player to homer in three straight games, joining Robert and Burger.
Record: 23-34 | Box score | Statcast
Author
Man, they get back to ten under .500 and the sky’s the limit from there.
“it was an attempt for a drag bunt single“
Thanks for clarifying
Alert: Romy currently has a better OPS than Benintendi.
75M extension for Romy next?
That’s one. Let’s get one more
Not that I think he is going to be anything great, but Romy should be at 2nd every day at this point. If and when andrus is back he needs to just be the backup and alberto can take the walk.
Did some digging on FG, and since Romy came back up, he’s been making more contact in the zone (82% Z-Contact) and the contact he makes is HARD (68% HardHit%), but just like every other White Sox hitter, he swings way too much (43% O-swing%, 3% BB%) and he’s still carrying a 30% k-rate.
all of that is good for a 191 wRC+
We’ll all know it’s officially over when Hahn or Kenny tell us to wait for that 8-10 game hot streak that’ll get us back in the race.
Hard for the bullpen to carry 4 innings every game, especially when the good relievers can’t pitch 2 days in a row. They need to build some people up to cover 2-3 innings every other day to bridge the gap. The SP burns a lot of pitches through 5 innings, but they have been largely competitive this month. A modern team like the Rays know how to fill this gap, and i’m confident the Sox won’t adapt.