The Sox opened their six-game road trip today in Los Angeles to take on a very strong Angels team after splitting their four-game series with the Angels back in May. Today, Lucas Giolito had a nice bounce-back start, and the offense pushed across three runs in the loss. The team battled back from a late deficit, but in the end, it was not enough to overcome shaky defense and poor baserunning decisions.
The aforementioned Lucas Giolito pitched around some early trouble/inconsistencies to complete six innings of work. After a leadoff single, a triple off the glove of Gavin Sheets, and a single off of Giolito’s foot, the White Sox found themselves trailing 2-0 after two innings. However, from there, Giolito would deliver four more scoreless innings, retiring the final nine batters he would face and racking up six strikeouts on the night. However, once he turned the ball over to Reynaldo Lopez in the seventh, the Angels re-took the lead after a leadoff walk, single, and Taylor Ward’s two-RBI double. Jimmy Lambert would pitch a scoreless eighth, but the White Sox would be held hitless in the ninth.
The offense today was far from perfect. There were eight men left on base today – three of them were left in scoring position – and a total of 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. In the sixth, Andrew Vaughn got the scoring started for the Sox with a double that scored Tim Anderson which brought the club within one. Later that same inning, Jose Abreu doubled home Vaughn to tie up the game. In the seventh after some shaky defense from the Halos, Josh Harrison made them pay with an RBI single that scored Gavin Sheets, giving the Sox a 3-2 lead. But, that would be the end of the offense, thanks in part to a costly baserunning error on Harrison’s single by Seby Zavala.
The Sox fall in the first game of their six-game west coast road trip, and they move to 34-38, six and a half games out of first place.
W: Noah Syndergaard (5-6) | L: Reynaldo Lopez (4-2) | S: Raisel Iglesias (14)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap
Pitching Recap
White Sox Scoring Recap
Top 6th: Andrew Vaughn doubles to left field, scoring Tim Anderson. 2-1 Angels
Top 6th: Jose Abreu doubles to left field, scoring Andrew Vaughn. 2-2 Tie
Top 7th: Josh Harrison singles to center field, scoring Gavin Sheets. 3-2 White Sox
Notable Performances
Lucas Giolito: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
As mentioned earlier, after the tough second inning where Lucas allowed two runs, he was solid. His fastball life is not there yet, but he was still solid and put the Sox in the position to win the game. Giolito threw ninety pitches, and fifty-seven of them were for strikes with fourteen swinging strikes.
Gavin Sheets: 2-for-3, 1 R
Since coming back from Charlotte Sheets is 7-for-16, and he has been a big boost to this offense. He homered yesterday in the win against Baltimore and he kept his hot bat going with two more hits today.
Andrew Vaughn: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI
Back in the same ballpark where he made his MLB debut, Andrew Vaughn delivered an RBI double, his 33rd RBI of the season, that scored Tim Anderson making the score 2-1. He later came around to score on an Abreu double.
Jose Abreu: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI
Abreu doubled home Vaughn in the sixth inning, tying Andrew Vaughn with 33 RBIs on the season.
Next Matchup
Johnny Cueto will take the mound tomorrow for the Sox, against a starter to be named later for the Angels.
The game will be at 8:38 PM and will be over on NBC Sports Chicago.
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Featured Image: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
