2020 OOTP sim: Angels clobber Sox ... in second try
ANAHEIM — It took an act of God to defeat the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
The club jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first, thanks to a string of RBIs: Zack Collins (double), Luis Robert (single), Yasmani Grandal (single), then back-to-back jacks by Cheslor Cuthbert (two-run) and Nomar Mazara. The White Sox sent 10 batters to the plate and basically salted the game away before the Angels took a single swing.
Then, just like that, the lights went out. Game, unsaved. Pregame moves, undone.
So, unlike a rain delay or rainout, the same two pitchers (Anaheim opener Jacob Barnes, White Sox early ace Dallas Keuchel) went right back out into the night — chillier now — and started over from 0-0.
In the re-start, the White Sox fell five short of six in the first, but did still score, as No. 2 hitter Leury García launched a rocket out to right to put the White Sox up, 1-0.
But this time, it was the Angels who romped in the first, Shohei Ohtani singling to tie the game, Justin Upton with a safety to put the Angels up, 2-1, and then a three-run bomb from Jo Adell put Dallas on the ropes, 5-1. Greybeard Albert Pujols got in the act with a two-run shot, and by frame's end, it was 8-1, Angels. The only decent thing to come out of the debacle was the fact that Mike Trout somehow made two outs in the inning.
Michael Kopech, just off of the injured list and moved up straight to Chicago, took over in the second inning and had a fine first outing, with one run, one walk and three hits over four innings. Kopech struck out three and threw 52 pitches, with his only damage coming from an Ohtani bomb two batters into his outing.
Dylan Bundy, the starter after opener Barnes left after one, threw six innings with nine Ks, and the White Sox were all too willing to both wave and look at strikes. One walk against 10 Ks won't get it done against anybody, even a pitcher coming in with a 6.20 ERA.
Before the game, the White Sox made a bold move, not only in bringing up Kopech without a tuneup at Charlotte, but in designating $8.5 million reliever Kelvin Herrera for assignment. For the immediate term, GM Rick Hahn says, the White Sox will run out a six-man rotation until health or performance dictate a return to the norm.
Shaky starter Reynaldo López (1-0, 6.18 ERA) heads to the bump on Friday to try to find that pre-power outage magic for the White Sox.
Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, for the NBA, MLB, NHL, and Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, SB Nation and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer when their 49-year Stanley Cup drought ended in 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and beat writer for Inside the Rays. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.