It is Opening Day! The start of the season, when Optimism is at an all year high, before any losses can pile up. In the Windy City, Yusei Kikuchi took the mound against the White Sox, the worst team in baseball in 2024.
How did our most expensive FA acquisition do? Kikuchi went 6 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 and walking none. Was that worth the money? It is a quality start. But it was against the White Sox. THE WHITE SOX.
How about hitting? How did they do? Taylor, Nolan, Logan, and Jo all had 1 hit each. That was it. And Ward’s double was the only extra base hit. Add a walk by Trout and Moncada each and that was all they could muster. Against a pitcher making his 5th career start. Yeesh.
Highlighted Recap
The White Sox immediately hit Mike Trout in the hand in the first inning, angering everyone and casing mass panic. Fortunately, he stayed in the game, his giant batting gloves keeping him safe.
What wasn’t safe was our optimism, as Kikuchi allowed 3 runs in the 2nd inning, one on a solo shot
And then a 2 run double
The Angels stayed very quiet all game, until the top of the 8th, when they loaded the bases with 2 outs, only for Soler to strike out swinging at ball 4.
Any good highlights at all? Well, uh, Ryan Johnson made his MLB debut and got a strikeout.
And allowed a 3 run home run in the 8th
Make that 2 home runs
We may have seen a pitcher break in his first MLB game. Way to go Angels. You Ruined Johnson.
Logan homed with 2 outs in the 9th to avoid the shutout though. So that’s a silver lining.
Anyway, Angels lose badly, I need a drink.
Upcoming
No game tomorrow, we have 2 this weekend though, in the morning. Yay~
