White Sox<\/a> have hit 27 homers and averaged 6.9 runs in their first 13 games since the All-Star break.<\/p>\nBut it was two big defensive plays, both of which resulted in outs at third base, that were probably most responsible for the 6-3 victory Friday against the Angels that lifted the Sox\u2019 record to 9-4 since the break.<\/p>\n
Right-hander Shane Smith<\/b> struggled out of the gate in his first start since July 11, with the Angels loading the bases with no outs in the first inning on a walk to Zach Neto<\/b>, a single by Nolan Schanuel<\/b> and a walk to Taylor Ward<\/b>.<\/p>\n
But catcher Edgar Quero<\/b> picked off Neto at third, and Smith struck out Jo Adell<\/b>. After walking Yoan Moncada<\/b>, Smith got Logan O\u2019Hoppe<\/b> to ground out, ending an ugly inning in which he threw 35 pitches, walked three, gave up a hit and somehow didn\u2019t yield a run.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I felt like [Neto] was getting off the bag far enough to where it gave us a chance,\u2019\u2019 said Rojas, the Sox\u2019 third baseman. \u2018\u2018He was leaning as the pitch crossed the plate, so I felt like we could give it a shot.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Rojas also made a quick catch-and-tag on a relay play that prevented the Angels from scoring the tying run in the seventh.<\/p>\n
The Angels had pulled to 4-3 on a sacrifice fly by Neto and had runners on first and second with two outs when Schanuel singled sharply to right. Outfielder Mike Tauchman<\/b> threw to shortstop Montgomery, who fired to Rojas, who tagged out Gustavo Campero<\/b> before Travis d\u2019Arnaud<\/b> \u2014 who was trying to score from second \u2014 crossed the plate. Umpire John Tumpane\u2019s<\/b> initial call was upheld by replay.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That was a huge play, a great job by everyone involved, starting with \u2018Tauch\u2019 to get the ball in and Colson with the relay,\u2019\u2019 manager Will Venable<\/b> said. \u2018\u2018And Rojas had an awareness for the situation when he put the tag on.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\nPitching in<\/h3>\n
Smith, who missed three weeks because of a sprained left ankle, recovered from his shaky first to throw three hitless innings before giving up a two-run homer to Campero in the fifth. He didn\u2019t earn the victory, but he gave the Sox a chance by yielding two runs and two hits in 4\u2153 innings.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I definitely didn\u2019t make it easy on myself,\u2019\u2019 Smith said, \u2018\u2018but I settled in and was glad to get the length I had after throwing 35 pitches in the first.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The Sox also got some stout relief from right-handers Jordan Leasure<\/b>, who struck out four of the five batters he faced in the fifth and sixth, and Steven Wilson<\/b>, who retired the side in order in the eighth and struck out the side in the ninth for a six-out save.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018They were amazing,\u2019\u2019 Venable said, \u2018\u2018and we needed every one of those outs after a short start by Smitty.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Milestone victory<\/h3>\n
The Sox entered play Saturday with an American League-worst 41-69 record, but the victory Friday enabled them to match their win total from 2024 with two months left.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I think we felt a difference in spring training,\u2019\u2019 said Rojas, who wasn\u2019t on the 121-loss team of last season. \u2018\u2018We have a lot of young guys who are hungry to be successful at the big-league level, and I think we\u2019re seeing that post-All-Star break.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Two of the Sox\u2019 hottest hitters have been Montgomery, a 23-year-old who has six homers in his last nine games, and Sosa, a 25-year-old who is batting .522 (12-for-23) with two homers and nine RBI in his last seven games.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018The young guys have been on fire to start the second half,\u2019\u2019 Rojas said, \u2018\u2018and it\u2019s been fun to watch.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Roster moves<\/h3>\n
The Sox put reliever Dan Altavilla<\/b>, who gave up a single, a walk and a hit batsman while getting only one out Friday, on the 15-day injured list with a strained lat, an injury he said will sideline him \u2018\u2018for a couple of weeks.\u2019\u2019 The Sox recalled right-hander Owen White<\/b> from Triple-A Charlotte to take his spot on the roster.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2009First baseman Ryan Noda<\/b> was claimed off waivers by the Orioles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 The solo home runs Friday by Andrew Benintendi, Lenyn Sosa, Colson Montgomery and Josh Rojas were nice, representing a continuation of a power surge in which the White Sox have hit 27 homers and averaged 6.9 runs in their first 13 games since the All-Star break. But it was two big defensive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}