Angels 7, White Sox 0: Shut out by Hector Santiago

Can the White Sox start the second half over?

A day that started with the excitement of new roster additions ended with a meek showing at the Big A, as the Angels handed the White Sox their second consecutive shutout. Former White Sox Hector Santiago marked his territory early by striking out the side in the first, and he neutralized the Sox’ right-handed hitters over seven scoreless innings.

Worse yet, the Sox didn’t start putting good swings on him until the sixth. Yet in that frame, Santiago gave up three hard-hit balls and still faced the minimum (single, double play, flyout) in that inning.

The seventh contained their one and only threat. With two outs, Todd Frazier singled through the left side. Brett Lawrie followed with one of his own, and both took 90 more feet than expected to put two runners in scoring position for Dioner Navarro ... who popped up the first pitch. It wasn’t the pitch that was the problem — Navarro couldn’t do anything great with a hittable strike, and that was the problem all night.

As a result, the Sox hung Miguel Gonzalez out to dry. He pitched better than his line, which was still a quality start (6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). The two runs he gave up in the third inning were more or less on him — a two-out bloop single and a line-drive double to the right-field corner -- but he stayed in just long enough to watch the White Sox defense collapse behind him. Jose Abreu couldn’t stop a fieldable Daniel Nava grounder to start the inning, Tim Anderson booted a Johnny Giavotella grounder, and Gonzalez departed with two on and nobody out when it should’ve been the opposite.

The bullpen didn’t help, either. Zach Duke gave up an RBI double and gave way to Matt Albers, who gave up two RBI singles and another run on a jam-shot infield single that started with a 4-6-3 attempt, and ended with no outs and Anderson’s throw skipping by Abreu (a two-error inning for the shortstop). By the time the dust settled, the Sox had used four pitchers to give up five runs.

Bullet points:

*Adam Eaton had the best day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with the lone extra-base hit, and Trout robbing him of another double. He did what he could to soften the blow from Santiago doing the damage.

*Justin Morneau made his White Sox debut, pinch-hitting for Avisail Garcia in the eighth and grounding out to second.

*Anderson went 0-for-3, but he drew his second walk of the season. J.C. Ramirez issued it, and on four pitches.

*White Sox pitching gave up seven runs while keeping Trout in check, as he went 0-for-3 with a two-out walk and two strikeouts.

Record: 45-44 | Box score | Highlights