2020 OOTP sim: Heaney handcuffs Sox, 7-3
ANAHEIM — Gio González dug an early hole and Angels ace Andrew Heaney was on his game on Saturday, leading to a 7-3 White Sox defeat.
The Angels jumped on González and the White Sox early, building a lead they'd never relinquish. The one big blow early was a Jo Adell two-run homer, putting the home team up, 2-0. But in the third, the Angels got chippy, as a single and two walks filled the sacks with nobody out. Shohei Ohtani singled in a run, and then a James McCann passed ball made it 4-0, Angels. González departed after striking out Justin Upton and Adell, and Pat Venditte came on and induced a David Fletcher fly out to right.
The lone White Sox rally came in the sixth inning. McCann led off with a double and was pushed to third on a José Abreu single. On 0-2 to Tim Anderson, Max Stassi led a ball slip through the five hole and the passed ball scored McCann. That was the closest Anderson has gotten to an RBI in weeks, as he completed the whiff but was picked up by a Yoán Moncada RBI single. Moncada snagged his seventh stolen base, was pushed to third on a Leury García fly out, and came home when Eloy JIménez launched a full-count single to center.
Drawing to 4-3 proved a mere footnote, as shaky outings from the generally solid bullpen put three more Angels runs on the board, including a Mike Trout homer off of Aaron Bummer's second pitch of the game.
The White Sox seek the series split by sending out their early ace this season, Dylan Cease, on Sunday against impressive Angels rookie Luiz Gohara (2-0, 0.69 ERA)
NOTES: James McCann had a strike 'em out (Anthony Rendon), throw 'em out (Mike Trout) to end the first inning, making McCann 3-of-6 in catching base-stealers this season ... With Yoán Moncada's team-leading seventh steal of the season, the White Sox now have 24 steals while being caught just five times, an impressive .827 percentage ... The Angels' David Fletcher stretched his hitting streak to 14 games with a second-inning single ... rumors abound that have the White Sox and San Francisco Giants talking trade, with LHRP Tony Watson, swingman Tyson Ross (currently in Triple-A) and RF Yasiel Puig (signed to a minor-league deal by the Giants before the season) as targets.
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.
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