ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Chicago White Sox surrendered five runs in the second inning on Wednesday, falling 8-2 to the Los Angeles Angels in front of 23,338 at Angel Stadium.
Travis d’Arnaud hit a three-run home run in the inning. Sox rookie starter Noah Schultz allowed seven runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.
“It’s baseball, things happen, and you can’t be perfect every time you’re out there,” Schultz said. “Definitely stuff to improve on next week. Going to look at some video, look at some stuff and try to improve.”
Here are three takeaways after the Sox (17-20) dropped two of three in the series.
1. Wednesday’s second inning featured some tough breaks.
The Sox nearly got out of the second inning without any damage.
The Angels had runners on first and second with one out when Nolan Schanuel hit a slow grounder to second. Chase Meidroth made a shuffle toss to second base for a force out, but the Sox couldn’t complete what would have been a tough double play. Shortstop Colson Montgomery lost control of the ball on the exchange.
The Angels made the most of the opportunity, as d’Arnaud followed with the three-run home run on an 0-1 high fastball to make it 3-1.
Bryce Teodosio doubled and scored on a triple by Zach Neto. Mike Trout then hit a popup that Meidroth lost in the sun. Neto scored on the play, which was ruled a single, making it 5-1.
Schultz got Vaughn Grissom to fly out to center to end the inning.
“Today, it was a case where they hit some tough pitches,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “The homer was a well-located fastball. Neto expanded and was able to put a ball into right field.
“Four walks (in the outing for Schultz), he has to be more aggressive in the zone. Just one of those days where he got burned on some pitches.”
The Sox never rebounded after the tough second inning, although they had opportunities. They finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position for the second straight game.
“Ran into a really good pitcher (Angels starter Walbert Ureña) who has really good stuff and (we) weren’t able to push anything across,” Venable said.
The Sox wrapped up the trip 3-3, winning two of three in San Diego before losing two of three to the Angels.
“It’s a tough way to end what was a good road trip,” Venable said. “A couple of those losses were really hard-fought games. Today got away from us a little bit. But overall, really good.”
2. Friendly competition is part of the fuel for starter Davis Martin.
The lone win in this series against the Angels came Monday when Davis Martin allowed five hits over seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory. The right-hander struck out a career-high 10 while improving to 5-1.
Martin is tied for second in the majors in wins, entering Wednesday. He gave the entire team credit.
“Offense is doing great, defense is playing great, catchers are doing awesome,” Martin said after Monday’s game. “It’s a team effort. Wins and losses in this league for starters are highly dependent on a lot of other guys doing their jobs as well. Just talks about how proficient everybody else is at doing their job. I’m just going out there having fun playing baseball.”
Martin’s 1.64 ERA is the lowest by a Sox pitcher over his first seven starts of a season since Michael Kopech’s 1.54 ERA in 2022. Martin was third in the majors in ERA coming into Wednesday.
He became the third Sox pitcher in four starts with a scoreless outing, following six apiece by Schultz and Sean Burke on Friday and Saturday against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego.
“Friendly competition,” Martin said. “Every single one of us is not above chirping the other person. I came out of that game and I had Sean and (starter) Anthony (Kay) both look at me and go, ‘Can’t go eight?’ So there’s never a settling.
“We’re always kind of constantly trying to get better, push each other, see what we can do. Talking pitch grips, talking about whatever we need to do with the other guys to take that next step. It’s a growing process, it’s a long season and you can never be done growing.”
3. The roster tweaks continued for the Sox.
The Sox will return home with a couple of tweaks to the roster. They signed outfielder Randal Grichuk to a one-year deal on Monday as outfielder Austin Hays went on the injured list with a left calf strain.
And Tuesday, they acquired pitcher Trevor Richards from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for cash considerations. Richards will be activated ahead of Friday’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners at Rate Field, Venable said, and the Sox will make a corresponding move.
The Sox plan to use Richards out of the bullpen.
“Really good changeup, that’s kind of his pitch,” Venable said on Tuesday. “Excited to have him.”
In more roster news, the Sox on Wednesday returned pitchers Jonathan Cannon (right hip inflammation) and left-hander Chris Murphy (left elbow impingement syndrome) from their injury rehabilitation assignments at Triple-A Charlotte, reinstated them from the 15-day injured list and optioned them to Charlotte.
