Pujols homered off starting and losing pitcher Carlos Rodon (5-5) leading off the second inning for a 1-0 lead.
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“After the first homer, the responded to it was great and he pitched effectively, ” Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. They still trail Houston by 3 1-2 games in the division race, and Toronto by a half-game for the second wild card spot. LHP Drew Smyly (torn left labrum) is scheduled to make his third minor league rehab start on Thursday. They didn’t do it in an extremely convincing fashion, but while I could chalk that up to the brittle Angels bats, I’ll go ahead and give credit to Rodon and celebrate the tough win.
The only time the White Sox scored came in the second inning on a Johnny Giavotella error. He took a pitch just over the left-center wall, and had his first home run in 34 years(this is an exaggeration).
The Angels on Monday didn’t do anything to improve upon their struggling offense, which had averaged just 3.4 runs while going 6-17 over the previous 23 games. “Falling behind 2-0 kind of put me in a hole, so I had to get back in the count with a fastball”.
Get the kid standing next to you to get the ball for you and then repay him in popcorn, candy, and Coke (or “soda” or “pop” if you’re like that, though where I’m from, everything is “Coke”). “He threw me a first pitch slider in that I swung through, a little down”. The rookie left-hander lowered his ERA to 2.43 in 10 starts this season, but remained winless in four starts after winning five of his first six.
But it was Heaney who stole the show, and it was no more evident than the sixth inning when the White Sox loaded the bases with two outs on two singles and a hit batter. “Then he came back with the changeup away and fortunately I put a good swing on it”. But Tyler Flowers was called out on strikes to end the threat.
“It looked like he kind of maybe was sitting on it, had an idea”. Rodon pitched a career-high eight innings, allowing two runs on four hits as the Sox lost the opener of a seven-game West Coast road trip. He became the seventh White Sox rookie since 1914 to throw seven or more shutout innings with at least 10 strikeouts (last: Hector Santiago October 1, 2012 at Cleveland). The nine-year veteran hasn’t finished a season with an ERA under 4.00 since 2010, when he had a 3.72 mark and a career-high 15 victories including a two-hit shutout against the Angels.
Rodon walked three and struck out five over eight innings.
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The southpaw Heaney threw six innings and allowed one earned run on five hits while striking out four, walking one and hitting two on 100 pitches.
