ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Well hey, Justin Morneau made his White Sox debut on Friday night.
But that was the only positive for the team that resides on 35th and Shields.
The White Sox did little right in their second-half opener and the Los Angeles Angels took advantage, sending them to a 7-0 loss in front of 42,031 at Angel Stadium.
The game was all but over when Morneau grounded out in a pinch-hit appearance in the eighth inning as the offense continued its malaise. Hector Santiago struck out seven in seven shutout innings against the White Sox, who have gone 23 innings without a run dating back to Saturday. Rookie Tim Anderson also committed two errors during a five-run inning in which a two-run game turned into a blowout.
“Is that how many innings we’ve gone without scoring?” said leadoff man Adam Eaton. “That’s not good. That’s a direct reflection on Tim and I getting on base and making things happen. That’s not good for our staff. That’s not good for us. We’ve got to change that. We want to change that.”
Santiago made the White Sox offense look powerless early with his fastball, striking out six of the first 10 he faced. But White Sox manager Robin Ventura conceded his team also played a role in its later struggles.
Santiago had the White Sox off-balance and induced a bunch of pop-ups.
MLB
None was bigger than in the seventh inning with Dioner Navarro up and two aboard. Down 2-0, the White Sox suddenly were in position to tie the game after singles and hustle by Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie put both in scoring position with two outs. But Navarro fouled out to third base on the first pitch he saw and the White Sox stranded both.
They also stranded a runner in scoring position in the first and ninth innings.
“Even coming back from the break, you’d expect some guys to swing it a little bit better,” Ventura said. “It’s one day and you come back (Saturday). Probably get more of an idea about it tomorrow then anything.
“It was a combination of both. We didn’t swing it very well. That part, you are disappointed but you tip your hat to Hector.”
Miguel Gonzalez pitched well through six innings. His defense tacked two runs onto his line in the seventh.
Gonzalez limited the Angels to two third-inning runs and had allowed four hits and walked one.
But it all fell apart in the seventh when Daniel Nava’s double went directly under Abreu’s glove and Anderson booted Johnny Giavotella’s grounder. Zach Duke took over with runners on the corners and gave up a double to Jefry Marte. Geovany Soto singled in a run off Matt Albers to make it 4-0. Andrelton Simmons singled in another. Anderson’s throwing error on Yunel Escobar’s fielder’s choice allowed Simmons to advance from second to third and he eventually scored.
Gonzalez allowed four runs (three earned) in six-plus innings and gave up five hits. He walked one and struck out six.
“A couple mistakes,” Gonzalez said. “When you’re behind in the count it’s tough to come back and make good pitches. They put some good at-bats off me. Shake it off for the next time. I’m happy that Morneau is back, so. That’s a positive and our bullpen has been great the whole year. You can’t think about it twice -- they’ve been doing a really good job. It’s part of the game sometimes. It’s tough to understand that sometimes it’s a game of inches doesn’t go your way. We battled but things just didn’t happen.”