The Los Angeles Angels ended the White Sox's four-game winning streak on Saturday afternoon with a 12-9 victory in an extremely ugly game that featured some words exchanged, two passed balls, 21 men left on base and a Terry Bevington-esque moment in bullpen management.
The White Sox offense failed to capitalize on the struggles of Joe Blanton early, as they had two men on in each of the first three innings, but came away with nothing.
In the first, Alexei Ramirez and Alex Rios had one-out singles, but Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko struck out to end the frame.
In the second, Dayan Viciedo and Tyler Greene singled, but Dewayne Wise grounded out to the pitcher to stop the threat.
In the third, Ramirez and Konerko each singled, but Conor Gillaspie struck out to continue the trend.
The fourth was a little different. Viciedo walked to get things started and Hector Gimenez singled to right. After Greene struck out and Wise popped up, Ramirez was drilled with a pitch squarely in the back. Alexei for some reason thought this was retribution for Mike Trout getting hit the inning before and stared down Blanton for a few seconds. They barked at each other before Ramirez took first and Alex Rios followed with a high chopper over Alberto Callaspo's head to finally push across a couple of runs. Adam Dunn then lined a sharp single to right to bring home two more. Paul Konerko followed with another single before Gillaspie flew out to end the inning.
Hector Santiago, who had been pitching well up until this point, didn't know what to do with this new-found offense he just received. Mark Trumbo led off with a long homer to left. With one out, Callaspo singled. Then Santiago did his best Ricky Vaughn impersonation and walked the next three hitters, which brought in a run to cut the Sox lead in half. Ventura had seen enough and brought in Nate Jones after 3⅔ innings from Santiago. Jones did a decent job of limiting the damage as Erick Aybar hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 4-3 and Trout struck out to end the inning.
The Sox had another chance to extend the lead in the fifth. Viciedo was plunked to lead off, Gimenez singled and after a Greene pop out, Wise walked to load the bases. That ended Blanton's day and new pitcher Robert Coello struck out Ramirez and Rios to strand the bases loaded.
The Angels would take the lead in the fifth when Pujols lead off with a double down the right field line. Trumbo followed with one of his own to tie the game. After Howie Kendrick grounded to the right side to move Trumbo to third, Callaspo hit a sac fly to give the Angels the lead.
The bullpens settled down until the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Trumbo walked and Kendrick singled which ended Jones' day. In came the newly recalled Donnie Veal and out went the pitch to Callaspo over the left field wall to give the Angels an 8-4 lead. A Josh Hamilton single and a Chris Iannetta walk brought up J.B. Shuck, and he doubled home the two runners to make it 10-4. Brendan Harris grounded out to finally get the Sox and Veal out of the inning.
Garrett Richards came into the game for the Angels and the Sox decided that this day wasn't over yet. Ramirez singled. With one out, Jeff Keppinger also singled. Paul Konerko would bring home Ramirez with a hit of his own. After Gillaspie struck out, Viciedo smashed a single to bring in Keppinger. The Angels brought in closer Ernesto Frieri to put out the fire, but Hector Gimenez sprayed some fire accelerant all over that plan when he smashed a three-run homer to pull the Sox within one.
Then the ghost of Terry Bevington took over. With Trout and Albert Pujols due up, Veal ran out to the mound as Matt Lindstrom was running in from the bullpen. Veal would remain in the game to face Trout and he hit him with a pitch. Then Lindstrom came on to face Pujols. With Trout running, Pujols executed the hit-and-run perfectly with a single to right. Kendrick followed with a double to bring in Trout and Callaspo added another run with a sac fly before the inning ended to give the Angels a 12-9 lead.
That is where the game would end as Fieri struck out the side in the ninth.
Bullet points:
- Dunn was removed from the game in the fifth inning with back spasms. Keppinger took over at first.
- Gordon Beckham is slated to begin his rehab tonight.
- Dayan Viciedo was 2-3 with a walk and a HBP. He is now hitting .303.
- Gimenez proved that the catcher is not an automatic out as he went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. He also gunned down Trout trying to steal second. Unfortunately, he also had two passed balls charged to him.
- Rios had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He was pulled in favor of Casper Wells when Ventura thought the game got out of hand.
Record: 19-22 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights