For about six innings, the White Sox put forth a handful of events that signaled growth from last year. Luis Robert generated his own run with a two-out double, stolen base and a wild pitch. Lucas Giolito gave the Sox 5⅓ merely OK innings, but Tony La Russa spared him a third time through against Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. Adam Eaton gave the White Sox a rare homer from a right fielder.
The last three innings borrowed to last year’s frustrations. Two costly Nick Madrigal mistakes, one compounded by a slow-to-respond manager, and one accentuated by an ill-timed Yasmani Grandal dropped pitch. Leury García hit for himself as a lefty in the ninth inning for some reason, and Robert didn’t come close to any of the three sliders he saw for the penultimate out.
And so La Russa’s second coming opened with an excitement-dampening loss in Anaheim.
Eaton turned on a Bundy changeup and sent it over the wall in right for a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth, but Max Stassi did the same thing with a Giolito changeup to center in the bottom of the inning to make it a one-run game.
Giolito struck out the side in the first inning, but he seemed a little overamped as the innings got tougher, pulling his fastball gloveside a la Dylan Cease. While some of the exertion might’ve added deception to his changeup, the other pitches suffered. That’s why La Russa went the pen after Shohei Ohtani opened the sixth with a screaming lineout to right, and was right to do so.
Unfortunately, the Sox couldn’t carry it the rest of the way. Codi Heuer survived his own control jitters against the middle of the Angels order because Yoán Moncada gloved a hot one-hopper from Justin Upton and started a 5-4-3 double play. Heuer also handled the seventh himself without incident.
The eighth was a different matter. Aaron Bummer entered and suffered one misfortune after another. Let’s list ’em:
- David Fletcher led off with infield single off Bummer’s person.
- Madrigal rushed a throw to second on an Ohtani grounder and pulled Tim Anderson off second base.
- Grandal dropped an ordinary sinker, allowing Fletcher to take third.
- Mike Trout scorches the game-tying single through the left side, but Fletcher probably doesn’t score if he’s on second.
- After an Anthony Rendon strikeout, Bummer loses an obvious strike one to Justin Upton en route to an 11-pitch walk that loads the bases.
- He gets a grounder from Albert Pujols, but it’s a high chopper and Moncada can only get the out at first.
That’s how the White Sox lost the lead, and two uncompetitive at-bats from Leury García and Robert, followed by a Zack Collins flyout, ended the game.
Another Madrigal miscue loomed large for a different reason. After he reached on an infield single with one out in the seventh, he was cut down on a stolen-base attempt. I’m not convinced a replay would have overturned the ball, but Tony La Russa, new to managerial challenges since they didn’t exist the last time he held the job, was too slow on the draw for what would’ve been a no-harm try.
Bullet points:
*Neither of Bummer’s runs were earned, so the bullpen’s ERA remains 0.00.
*Eaton matched Nomar Mazara’s home run total from last year in one game.
*The White Sox were a little melodramatic with Eloy Jiménez’s injury.
Record: 0-1 | Box score | Statcast
April 02, 2021 at 10:11PM
https://www.soxmachine.com/2021/04/02/angels-4-white-sox-3-old-frustrations-resurface-in-fresh-season/
Angels 4, White Sox 3: Old frustrations resurface in fresh season - Sox Machine
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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