Tie-rrific! Sox and Angels play to a 1-1 draw
Chicago pitchers dominate while offense falls short yet again
Pitching was the story of today’s Spring Training tale, and it will likely be the narrative all season long. The White Sox hurlers held the Angels hitless through four and impressively demonstrated the depth of the system’s arms.
On the other hand, the offense is about as dry as the Arizona desert. It wasn’t for lack of hits, as the Good Guys managed 11 of those, but sans one two-bagger by Josh Rojas and another by Jacob Gonzales, the rest were all singles. There was absolutely no power and certainly no clutch hitting as Chicago went a paltry 1-for-16 with RISP.
Starter Justin Dunn was a revelation, mowing down the Halos with ease, tossing three innings of almost perfect ball, and surrendering just one walk over those frames. Dunn’s dominant performance was cut short, leaving us wanting more, and the bullpen took over to some mixed results.
With the Angels still hitless in the top of the fifth Cam Booser gave up a single to Yoán Moncada. Then, Fraser Ellard came out in the sixth and walked the bases loaded before Tyler Davis extinguished the fire with back-to-back strikeouts. Brandon Eisert retired the side in order in the seventh, but the Angels finally struck in the eighth.
With one out, Kyren Paris worked a walk from Peyton Pallette and then promptly stole second. Old friend Chuckie Robinson drove him home to tie the game. Pallette, who had been lights out in previous appearances, struggled to find his groove. He exited the inning, and Jake Palisch came in to wrap up the frame. Pallette did return for a redemption ninth, one of those fun Spring Training rules where pitchers can exit an inning only to return later in the game. He looked much more composed and retired the side in order, giving the Good Guys a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth.
The South Siders came out swinging in the bottom of the first, jumping on José Soriano early. After a one-out walk to Luis Robert Jr., Miguel Vargas followed with a single. Andrew Vaughn then delivered a clutch RBI single to drive La Pantera home. There were signs of life from the bats, but it didn’t last.
The Sox kept threatening, loading the bases multiple times, but they just couldn’t capitalize. There was some solid defense, which was refreshing, including a diving gem by Rojas.
However, there were some questionable baserunning decisions, highlighted by Jacob Gonzalez’s disastrous attempt to score from first in the bottom of the seventh, running the Sox out of the inning.
The bottom of the ninth was a nail-biter, with Gonzalez smacking a leadoff double, putting a man in scoring position once again. But, just like earlier in the game, they couldn’t push the winning run across. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, a fitting conclusion to a contest filled with missed opportunities.