White Sox drop another tough one to Angels
Shohei Ohtani figured to be the main attraction as the White Sox played the Angels Sunday night in a nationally-televised game.
He was.
"He is a unique athlete," Sox manager Tony La Russa said. "I don't think I've ever seen anybody that skilled at both things. He can hit it a mile. The pitching part is the most important part of the day for us. If we can score often on him, how long he stays in the game will take care of itself."
A two-way talent for Los Angeles, Ohtani drilled a 2-run homer off White Sox closer Liam Hendriks Friday night.
Two days later, he was on the mound for the Angels and he did early damage as a starting pitcher and No. 2 hitter.
Making the Sox's lineup look silly with 100-mph fastballs and unhittable splitters, Ohtani helped his cause with a 451-foot home run off Dylan Cease in the first inning.
Holding a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, Ohtani ran out of gas as the White Sox rallied to tie the game on 1 hit, 2 walks, a wild pitch and error.
After the Sox rallied to tie the game at 4 with an unearned run in the ninth inning, Jared Walsh gave the Angels a 7-4 win with a 3-run walk off homer against Matt Foster.
The White Sox move on to Seattle after losing 3 of 4 at Los Angeles to open the season.
There was more bad news - Tim Anderson grounded out to second base leading off the game and pulled up running to first base. The shortstop was replaced by Leury Garcia and is day-to-day with left hamstring tightness.
Ohtani was likely done after catcher Max Stassi dropped a swinging third strike to Yoan Moncada with one out in the fifth and then made a wild throw to first base.
That allowed Adam Eaton and Jose Abreu to score, and Abreu made contact with Ohtani on his slide into home. Ohtani needed some assistance as limped off the field.
In the sixth inning, Walsh put the Angels back in front with a home run off White Sox reliever Codi Heuer.
In his first start of the season, Cease went 4⅔ innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. The 25-year-old righty threw 92 pitches.
Heading into the final of four meetings with Los Angeles, the Sox's defense was having some early issues. In the first three games of the season-opening series, Los Angeles scored 7 unearned runs.
"One of the worst things you can do is make a big issue of it, where guys get tense and concerned that you lost confidence in them," La Russa said. "We haven't. If the angle was wrong or something happened, you explain it. But by and large, they're good defensive players, they're getting their work in, we're going to play good defense. The sooner the better."