Defensive Goodies Postgame

Taylor Ward hit a leadoff homer today to make it 1-0 Angels out of the gate.

Jake Burger singled and Luis Robert hit a double. Eloy Jimenez hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Burger. 1-1 tie after 1. Gio Urshela drew a walk in the second inning. Other than that, the Angels offense did nothing. Andrew Vaughn walked, two White Sox struck out and then Chad Wallach gunned down Vaughn by a mile trying to steal second.

The Angels went three up three down in the third inning. At least they all made contact, including Mike Trout. Brandon Drury made a nice defensive play in the inning. See below.

In the fourth inning, Shohei Ohtani hit a blast out of center field to make it 2-1 Angels.

Hunter Renfroe singled on the ground through the left side. Brandon Drury grounded out but advanced Hunter Renfroe by a base. Jared Walsh got a base hit on a liner to center that sent Renfroe to third. Gio Urshela hit a sacrifice fly to right center to score Renfroe. 3-1 Angels.

Zach Neto made an out on a pretty deep fly to center to end the top of the fourth inning.

The White Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth inning for Andrew Vaughn. He doubled to make it 4-3 White Sox. Andrew Benintendi bunted to advance Vaughn to third base with one out. Romy Gonzalez also doubled to drive in Vaughn. 5-3 White Sox. Romy Gonzalez broke for third and Wallach was initially charged with an error on the throw that ended up in the outfield, although one might have expected Urshela to catch that ball. Eventually, they did charge the error to Urshela. Gonzalez proceeded to score on the same play. 6-3 White Sox. Finally the inning came to an end.

Taylor Ward came up to lead off the fifth inning. He struck out. Mike Trout also struck out. Shohei Ohtani hit a fly ball out to right field. Chase Silseth came in and gave up a couple of singles and he un-corked a wild pitch followed by a walk to Yoan Moncada. Yeesh! The bases were loaded with one out when the Angels turned a double play to end the inning. Suck it, Andrew Vaughn!

Hunter Renfroe grounded out. Brandon Drury struck out. Jared Walsh lined out to center. Romy Gonzalez homered to make it 7-3 White Sox. At least that was it, though for the White Sox scoring this inning (6th).

Gio Urshela struck out. Pinch hitter Matt Thaiss struck out. Zach Neto also struck out. Sam Bachman came in to pitch. Jake Burger singled off of Brandon Drury’s glove. Luis Robert Jr. grounded into a double play which was challenged unsuccessfully.

Then Eloy Jimenez grounded out to end the inning.

In the top of the eighth inning, Taylor Ward doubled to left. Mike Trout grounded out. Shohei Ohtani struck out. Hunter Renfroe struck out. Aaron Loup came in to replace Bachman, who had a scoreless half inning. He struck out Yoan Moncada but gave up another double to Andrew Vaughn. Mike Trout made a diving catch on an Andrew Benintendi fly to center then Romy Gonzalez grounded out to end the inning.

For the ninth inning: Brandon Drury was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth inning. Jared Walsh struck out. Gio Urshela flied out to right. Matt Thaiss Walked. Zach Neto struck out to end the game. White Sox won this one 7-3.

Photo credit: Rex Fregosi