After a three-hour rain delay, the White Sox and Angels decided to start playing tonight’s game … at 9:40 p.m. CT. Or for this writer and editor, 10:40 p.m. The game ended 35 minutes into Tuesday in Chicago, but the Good Guys somehow pulled off a massive comeback, winning 8-7. Oh, and Mune leads the league in home runs. No big deal!
The first inning brought the pain quickly for the White Sox, as Mike Trout doubled and scored on a sac fly, putting the Angels up, 1-0. The Sox tried to answer with two singles of their own and failed. This would matter even more in the second, after starter Anthony Kay continued to struggle. With one out, Kay plunked Nolan Schanuel, gave up a single to Travis d’Arnaud, an RBI double to Bryce Teodosio and an RBI single to Zach Neto. Teodosio was caught stealing home, but Kay walked Trout to put two on with two outs. The frame ended with a force out to second, but not before Kay hit 45 pitches and the Halos tacked on two runs, making it 3-0. Brendan Hunt of Ted Lasso fame joined Connor McKnight to plug The Movement You Need and call all three pitiful outs as the Sox were retired in order to end the second.
Kay hit another batter, this time with two outs in the top of the third, but escaped further damage with a much-needed strikeout. Once more, no response from the Sox. The bases were loaded in the top of the fourth after a walk and two singles with just one out. Vaughn Grissom sent a ball to the wall, scoring a run, but Tristan Peters was able to make a leaping catch for the second out.
Osvaldo Bido, who was claimed off waivers on April 18, came in to rescue Kay in the fifth, inheriting a 4-0 ballgame, and for the first time in the entire game, there were no runs scored or hit batsmen by a Sox pitcher. Thanks to heads-up base running and a few singles, a run was scored in the bottom of the fifth, as Andrew Benintendi sent Peters home to trim the Angels lead to 4-1. Overall, Bido did a great job as a long reliever, despite giving up a solo home run to Jorge Soler in the top of the seventh.
Sam Antonacci and Chase Meidroth both made their way on base for Peters to bring in a run in the bottom of the seventh. Edgar Quero took a hit to load the bases with no outs, and Benintendi ripped one to right field for a two-run double, fully taking advantage of a dreadful Angels bullpen. Nick Sandlin, who entered halfway through the frame to replace Jack Kochanowicz, was pulled ahead of Munetaka Murakami’s at-bat.
Southpaw Drew Pomeranz stepped in to sap the slugger’s strength, but instead gave up a beautiful home run to give the Good Guys the lead. Murakami officially took over the MLB lead in home runs with 12:
Miguel Vargas kept the rally going with a solo home run right after. Now with seven runs in the seventh inning, the Sox were up, 8-5.
Per Sarah Langs, Munetaka Murakami’s first 12 MLB extra-base hits have been home runs. That extends the longest such streak to start a player’s MLB career since at least 1900 (Murakami had broken a tie with Seattle’s Dae-ho Lee with his homer run on April 22 vs. Arizona). He also tied Will Smith of the Dodgers for third-most home runs hit in a player’s first 29 career games.
The Angels still had some life left, rallying off of reliever Grant Taylor in the ninth. The righty gave up a pair of hits in the ninth, allowing a run to score and cutting the lead to 8-6. The Sox were a strike away from ending the game, but Nolan Schanuel blooped an RBI double between Vargas and Antonacci to make it 8-7, with the lead run at second base. But Bryan Hudson came to the rescue, coaxing a weak ground out from Adam Frazier for the final out, giving the Sox a huge comeback win.
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