Angels sidestep 14 whiffs, sweep Sox, 1-0

With the White Sox down 1-0, Yoán Moncada on second base and two out, Tim Anderson lifted a soft liner to left. For a second, it seemed that Justin Upton would be too slow to the ball, and Chicago would tie the game.

Cue the Hawk: DAD-GUMMIT

That tells you all you need to know about today’s game, a 1-0 loss to Angels, as Upton slid and caught Anderson’s ball to retire the side and extinguish a rare White Sox chance to extend the game.

Andrew Heaney was devastating for the Angels, spinning seven innings with just three hits, 12 whiffs and zero walks, for an 88 game score and his ninth win of the season.

Reynaldo López was nearly as good for the White Sox, throwing six and surrendering just two hits, with 10 Ks and three walks, for a 76 game score.

It was against rookie relievers Ian Hamilton and Caleb Frare that the Angels scored the lone tick of the game. Hamilton took over in the seventh and went Jose Fernandez single/Taylor Ward groundout advance of Fernandez/Kaleb Cowart walk/Jose Briceno strikeout, yielding to Frare with Fernandez on second with two out. Frare could not pick Hamilton up, surrendering a crisp RBI single to right from Kole Calhoun to give the Angels the lead.

Hector Santiago made things exciting in the ninth, walking the bases loaded before yielding to José Ruiz, who got David Fletcher to pop a first-pitch fastball out to Adam Engel in center.

Angels closer Blake Parker made it just as exciting for the White Sox in the bottom half. Yolmer Sánchez led off the ninth with a single, and after an Avisaíl García pop out, on successive pitches Parker wild-pitched Sánchez to second and plunked Matt Davidson in the head on a breaking pitch.

With runners on first and second, Welington Castillo jumped on a first-pitch fastball and drove it deep to Mike Trout in center, advancing Sánchez to third. With Nicky Delmonico pinch-hitting, Angels manager Mike Scioscia pulled Parker and replaced him with southpaw Jose Alvarez, who completely overmatched Delmonico with sliders, whiffing him to end the game.

Trout was only 2-for-4 in the game, with two Ks. López held the superstar to just two hits in three at-bats — and Juan Minaya whiffing the slugger in the eighth qualifies him as a bonafide Trout killer.

On the flip side, Upton whiffed all four times he stepped to the plate on Sunday.

Only three regulars failed to strike out in the game. Every White Sox batter but Anderson struck out at least one time, but no one was rung up more than twice. Final score: Angels 14 whiffs, the White Sox 14.

It’s off to Kansas City for a three-game set at Kauffman, followed by three at the Baltimore Orioles. Dead seriously, this could be the ugliest week of White Sox baseball games you will ever see in your life.