The White Sox played another sloppy and contested game against the Angels tonight, but did not have the timely hitting nor the bullpen magic to make up for their defensive miscues. After giving up two unearned runs in the 3rd inning, the White Sox were able to take a 3-2 lead into the 8th inning, driven by Yermin Mercedes’ 3-for-4 effort. However, Evan Marshall struggled for a second consecutive outing, and a Jared Walsh triple and Justin Upton home run put the Angels up 5-3 and buried the White Sox.
W: Junior Guerra (1-0) | L: Evan Marshall (0-1)
Savant Leaders
Notable Performances
Adam Eaton: 2-for-4, BB
Adam Eaton reached base safely in 3 out of his 5 plate appearances, providing some needed stability near the top of the lineup. Eaton has had an excellent start to the season, hitting .333 thus far.
Lance Lynn: 4.2 JP, 6 H, 0 ER (2 R), 2 BB, 6 SO
In his White Sox debut, Lance Lynn featured his patented heavy fastball and was successful in spurts. However, his usual longevity was hindered, some due to his own performance, but most of it due to poor defense that forced Lynn’s pitch count to rise substantially. Lynn ended the game with 99 pitches, many of which were used after defensive miscues that would have ended innings.
Yermin Mercedes: 3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI
The Yermination continued. Yermin Mercedes started the game 3-for-3 and thus became the first player in the modern era to begin a season with 8 straight hits. Unfortunately, he flied out to center field in his last at-bat, but Mercedes has sent a very strong message with his performance. The White Sox look as if they will continue to rely on Mercedes to fill the Eloy Jimenez-sized hole in the lineup.
Garrett Crochet: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
In his season debut, flamethrowing lefty Garrett Crochet matched Michael Kopech’s very encouraging outing last night by retiring all 7 batters he faced.
Matchup of the Game
Garrett Crochet relieved Lance Lynn in the 5th inning and had a very interesting matchup with a powerful lefty in Jared Walsh. After falling behind in the count, Crochet employed a more slider-heavy approach and eventually got Walsh to strike out on a slider with two runners on base, preserving the White Sox lead at the time. Crochet’s strikeout of Walsh raised the White Sox win probability from 44% to 50%. However, this clearly would not hold in the end.
Player of the Game
Yermin Mercedes is, again, the obvious choice. The 28-year-old continues to make a statement to Tony La Russa as he works to fill out his lineup card daily.
Next Game
The White Sox and Angels will complete their four-game series tomorrow night on Sunday Night Baseball at 7:37 PM CT on ESPN. Dylan Cease and Shohei Ohtani will square off in an intriguing matchup of fireballing right-handers.
