White Sox 6, Angels 3: South Siders go deep

Four home runs at the plate set the foundation for a solid victory in Anaheim

The White Sox (41-69) flexed their power at the plate to open their series against the Angels (53-57) in Anaheim.

In the top of the first, the White Sox made some good swings against left-handed starter Tyler Anderson. Edgar Quero, the second batter of the game, nearly drove one out to center. However, Quero’s blast came up just short, and Jo Adell made a nice catch in center right in front of the wall. Miguel Vargas followed with a sharp liner to center that Adell made another play on.

The bottom of the first was a grind for All-Star starting pitcher Shane Smith, who got the start on the mound for the South Siders. This was Smith’s first appearance since July 11. Smith missed a few weeks due to a sprained ankle, but he was back in action on Friday, and the Angels made him work. Zach Neto led off with a walk, Nolan Schanuel singled, and Taylor Ward walked to load the bases with no outs. However, Quero made an excellent throw to third to pick Neto off, and suddenly, Anaheim’s threat was much less menacing.

The Angels did pull off a double steal, but after a strikeout by Adell, the White Sox had picked up a very impactful second out. Old friend Yoán Moncada drew a walk to load the bases, but Smith got Logan O’Hoppe to ground out to escape unscathed. Finally, the scoreless but long, 35-pitch inning was over.

In the second, the White Sox hit the ball sharply again, but this time, they were rewarded. Andrew Benintendi led off the inning, and he did not waste any time. Benintendi blasted his 14th homer of the season to drive in the game’s first run.

Two batters later, Lenyn Sosa stepped up to the plate, and he contributed to the party.

Sosa’s 413-footer was his 11th homer of the season, and it doubled the South Siders’ lead.

Meanwhile, Smith was much more efficient after the arduous, 35-pitch first inning. Smith only needed 32 pitches to make it through innings 2-4, and he continued keeping the Angels off the board.

In the top of the fourth, the White Sox added some insurance. Miguel Vargas led off with a single, and Benintendi followed with a double to put a pair in scoring position. That set the stage for Luis Robert Jr., who hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-0.

Finally, after settling into a rhythm, Smith ran into trouble in the fifth. Smith issued a leadoff walk to Luis Rengifo before striking out Travis d’Arnaud. That brought up Gustavo Campero, who crushed a middle-middle sinker 438 feet. That marked the end of Smith’s outing, but all things considered, it was a decent effort, and the White Sox remained ahead, 3-2.

With two outs in the sixth, Colson Montgomery went to work.

Montgomery is off to a great start to his MLB career, he has now homered in six of his last nine games, and his OPS stands at .848.

Meanwhile, Jordan Leasure was fantastic in relief of Smith. Leasure retired all five batters he faced, striking out four of them to preserve the slim lead.

Reliever Dan Altavilla took over in the seventh, when the situation got interesting. O’Hoppe hit a leadoff single, and with one out, d’Arnaud walked, and Campero was hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded, Neto hit a sacrifice fly to drive in O’Hoppe and pull the Angels within one. Then, Schanuel singled, and it appeared the Angels would tie the game. Although there was no play at home, there was a play at third. A good throw by Fremd Viking Mike Tauchman and another good throw by Montgomery help the White Sox nail Campero at third. It was very close, but Campero was tagged out just before d’Arnaud reached home, so the lead remained intact.

From there, the White Sox added two insurance runs, and the bullpen took care of business. Luis Robert Jr. singled and stole second before Sosa drove him in with a single in the eighth. Finally, in the ninth, Josh Rojas launched his second homer of the year to wrap up the scoring.

The White Sox will be back in action against the Angels on Saturday at 9:07 p.m. Central. The probable starters are Aaron Civale (4.38 ERA, 4.81 FIP, 0.5 fWAR) and Kyle Hendricks (4.73 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 0.9 fWAR), and as usual, CHSN and WMVP 1000 AM will cover the game.

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