White Sox fall 8-1, get swept by Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Omar Narvaez and Adam Eaton ended the Chicago White Sox's 34-inning scoreless streak with a pair of doubles Sunday.

And that was pretty much the only good news for Chicago from a meek end to a disastrous series out of the All-Star break.

Albert Pujols hit a pair of two-run homers, Jered Weaver pitched seven strong innings and the Los Angeles Angels completed an emphatic three-game sweep of the White Sox with an 8-1 victory Sunday.

Chicago has lost six of eight after getting outscored 16-1 during the weekend by the Angels, one of the AL's worst teams this season. If the White Sox hope to be a player in the pennant race, they'll need to hit the reset button quickly on their second half.

"We need to score runs," manager Robin Ventura said. "Offensively, we've got to pick it up. Scoring one in a series is not going to do it for us."

Narvaez got his first big-league hit in his first at-bat, and he scored Chicago's first run since July 9 on Eaton's double moments later in the third inning. The White Sox also got a promising big-league debut from touted right-hander Carson Fulmer, who pitched two innings of one-hit relief.

But Pujols and the Angels lit up spot starter Jacob Turner (0-1), who got the ball because Ventura wanted All-Star Game starter Chris Sale to get an extra day off. Turner yielded seven hits and eight runs in his debut for the White Sox, who have lost four straight.

"You work hard to get back here, so you appreciate any opportunity you get," Turner said. "But there were just too many pitches where I didn't execute."

During the Angels' first series sweep since mid-May, Hector Santiago, Matt Shoemaker and Weaver (8-7) became the first consecutive Los Angeles starters to go seven innings since July 2015.

Chicago never threatened to do much against Weaver, who repeatedly tricked overeager hitters into harmless popups. With his fastball showing a bit more speed than usual after 10 days off, Weaver beat the White Sox for the eighth time in his last eight starts against them since 2011, giving up just six hits.

"You sit there and you marvel at the fact that it's not going very hard," Ventura said. "Speed isn't anything to alarm you about, but he almost throws it under that, anything that's a comfortable hitting speed. He takes a little off. Big curveball. Nothing seems to be in the middle of the plate."

After their worst first half since 1992, the injury-plagued Halos (40-52) returned from the All-Star break and escaped sole possession of last place in the AL West, pulling even with Oakland.

"Our motto is just to go out there and have some fun," Weaver said. "Obviously we're not in the position we'd like to be, but that's not going to deter from going out there and competing. A sweep against a team like this is a step in the right direction."

Pujols connected in the first and fourth innings of his 53rd multi-homer game. He has 577 career homers as he pursues Mark McGwire (583) for 10th place on baseball's career list.

Pujols improved to 4 for 4 with three homers and six RBIs in his career against Turner, who hadn't pitched in the big leagues since 2014.

"Obviously we didn't have a great first half, but that's the way you want to start the second half," Pujols said.

FIRST TASTES

Narvaez got his milestone hit in his first career at-bat, driving a double to left-center. The 24-year-old Venezuelan catcher hadn't played for the White Sox since being recalled 11 days earlier.

Along with Narvaez, the 22-year-old Fulmer also made his big-league debut. The eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft was called up from Double-A Birmingham before the series. "It was impressive," Ventura said.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: 3B Matt Davidson (broken foot) was transferred to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Turner.

Angels: Geovany Soto was scratched before the game with discomfort in his left knee.

UP NEXT

White Sox: Sale (14-3, 3.38 ERA) goes after his sixth victory in seven starts when Chicago begins a three-game series in Seattle.

Angels: Nick Tropeano (3-2, 3.12 ERA) will make his third start since returning to the rotation in early July when Los Angeles hosts Texas.