Another loss for White Sox, but a win for Moncada
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It was a loss for the White Sox Saturday, their second straight against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium to open the season.
It was a win for Yoan Moncada, making the new third baseman 2-0 on the young season.
"I am feeling good," Moncada said through a translator after the Sox fell to Kansas City 8-6. "I am carrying over the work I did in spring training. It's just two games, but I am feeling pretty good."
Shifting over to third this year after playing second base the last two seasons, Moncada played a standout defensive game in Thursday's season opener, a 5-3 loss to the Royals. The switch-hitter also went 1-for-3.
On Saturday, Moncada was 3-for-5 with his first home run of the season, a 2-run shot in seventh inning. With two on and two outs in the ninth inning, he made good contact and flied out to right field to end the game.
"He's having really good at-bats," manager Rick Renteria said. "Even the last at-bat, he just missed that pitch I think. He's doing a lot of things right right now. Hopefully it will continue. Good at-bats, playing the field well. He continues to shine a little bit right now."
Looking for the most positive thing about Moncada's early showing? In 9 plate appearances, the 23-year-old infielder has yet to strike out. He led the majors with 217 last season.
"This year, I'm trying to be more aggressive on all the pitches," Moncada said. "I want to keep my approach but at the same time, I know that I can keep my approach being aggressive from the first pitch."
As for the rest of the Sox, Eloy Jimenez got his first 2 major-league hits Saturday, Jose Abreu hit a 3-run homer and veteran relievers Kelvin Herrera and Alex Colome each pitched 1 perfect inning in their season debuts.
That was the good news.
In a word, Reynaldo Lopez was bad during his first start of the season. The 25-year-old righty lasted just 4 innings and allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks.
It was a brutally cold day and snow was falling before the game. Lopez never looked comfortable.
"(The weather) affected me because I wasn't able to have a good feeling on the baseball," Lopez said through a translator. "I tried to battle through it, and it was the same for me as for other pitchers. What happened happened, and I just tried to do my best and battle through the cold weather.
"I have to keep working. I can blame my mechanics or I can blame the weather, but it's something that's going to happen during the season and today was just a bad day for me."
The White Sox also played some bad defense, with shortstop Tim Anderson making his second error in as many games, Daniel Palka not throwing very well in right field and Jimenez and Anderson almost colliding in short left field.
In the Royals' 3-run third inning, designated hitter Jorge Soler flared a ball to left that should have been caught. Renteria said Jimenez should have called off Anderson louder and longer.
"I called it and he didn't hear me," Jimenez said. "I said, 'I don't want to hurt him or me.'"