Angels 9, White Sox 3: Teeing off on Chris Volstad

Chris Volstad picked up his first win in more than five years his last time out.

This time out reminded everybody how he went five years between wins.

Volstad gave up three homers to the Angels during a six-run second. Those were the only six runs he gave up over five innings, but they were far more than Los Angeles needed behind a strong start by Parker Bridwell.

The White Sox’ 1-0 lead evaporated in five pitches during the second. Albert Pujols singled on a 1-1 count, followed by a Brandon Phillips two-run shot. Andrelton Simmons then split the right-center gap with a line drive, but a great relay from Avisail Garcia to Yoan Moncada nailed Simmons at third.

Still, Volstad couldn’t take advantage of the reprieve, because Luis Valbuena homered to make it a 3-1 game. C.J. Cron then stuck out, but Martin Maldonado singled on a full count and Kole Calhoun walked on a full count to get the inning to Mike Trout. That brought Don Cooper to the mound, but the advice didn’t help, because Trout socked a three-run homer on the first pitch to cap the inning’s scoring.

That outburst took the drama out of the evening, but at least Jose Abreu made it worth watching his at-bats. He crushed a pair of solo shots off Bridwell, which were the only two hits the Angels rookie gave up through six.

Abreu added a double to account for half of the White Sox’ hits, and he probably had more than half with a stricter official scorer. Avisail Garcia led off the seventh with a fly to the warning track in left center. Trout showed plenty of confidence in catching it by waving off Justin Upton, but he whiffed on it badly. For whatever reason, it was a double instead of an E8, and Kevan Smith brought Garcia home with a single up the middle.

Volstad also made the game more watchable by getting through five. Chris Beck’s attempt at a second inning crumbled on him during a three-run seventh, but Rick Renteria only needed to use Mike Pelfrey and Jace Fry afterward. Fry actually threw a scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 16.62.

Record: 64-93 | Box score