'One run is not going to cut it': White Sox walked off by Angels

ANAHEIM -- The White Sox are now the owners of a very strange statistic following a 2-1 loss to the Angels on Monday night during their series opener at Angel Stadium.

With Mike Trout scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a one-out Aaron Bummer wild pitch, the White Sox (34-46) have been walked off seven times during this disappointing 2023 season. It’s tied for the most walk-off losses in the Major Leagues with the Padres, another team failing to live up to lofty preseason expectations.

But with seven walk-off victories, the White Sox also lead the way in that particular category. It’s beginning to sound like a broken record, but such is the way of this uneven season.

Monday’s setback was particularly tough, as the Angels (43-37) didn’t need a hit in the ninth to claim the victory. White Sox manager Pedro Grifol refused to blame the whole game upon the ninth.

Simply put, the White Sox offense needs to be better, with all 22 of their games in June having been decided by four runs or less.

“One run is not going to cut it,” Grifol said. “We have to put points on the board, and that’s just the way it is. It’s tough in this league to win 1-0. What happened, happened. That ninth inning gets magnified, but we have to push some runs across the board.

“We had opportunities. But in this league, there are very few 1-0 games. In this league, you have to score some points.”

In reality, the White Sox didn’t have many opportunities against Reid Detmers and two relievers. They finished with three hits, two walks and 12 strikeouts.

Andrew Vaughn singled and Jake Burger walked to open the fifth against Detmers, but Detmers proceeded to strike out Clint Frazier, Elvis Andrus and Seby Zavala to end the threat. Detmers and Dylan Cease engaged in a true pitchers' duel, as Detmers struck out 10 and allowed one run on two walks and two hits over seven innings and 105 pitches, while Cease struck out 10, allowed one run on five hits and didn’t issue a free pass over six-plus innings.

Cease has fanned 42 and walked 10 while allowing seven earned runs over 28 2/3 innings in five June starts.

"I’m pitching more up to my ability for sure lately,” Cease said. “I just had to work on some mechanical adjustments. I was opening up a little bit. I had to figure out how to train myself to stay closed, and it took a little bit, but I feel like I’m in a really good spot.”

“He had everything going,” Grifol said of Cease. “He was strong, he had a good slider, tunneled it well, left one pitch over the plate, and [Shohei] Ohtani did what he normally does with those mistakes. Other than that, he was mistake free the rest of the game.”

The game was tied at 1-1 going into the ninth on the strength of home runs from Ohtani and Luis Robert Jr., who sit first and second in the American League in long balls, with Ohtani leading all of MLB.

Robert connected in the first for his third home run in four at-bats and his fourth straight hit. Ohtani launched a Statcast-projected blast 446 feet on a 3-1 count in the fourth to tie the game.

A final outcome eventually came down to the ninth when Trout walked against Reynaldo López (2-5) and Ohtani walked against Bummer with nobody out. Bummer struck out Brandon Drury after Trout and Ohtani moved up via a double steal on a pitch that got away from catcher Yasmani Grandal. Then with Mike Moustakas at the plate, Trout made the quick break home on a 0-1 offering that bounced to the left of Grandal.

Game 2 of this series, with Ohtani on the mound, represents the halfway mark of 81 games for the White Sox. They are six games behind the Twins in the AL Central, but they also don’t look good enough overall to make a division title run.

“Obviously, losing is always tough. But I’m proud of how we fought. It was a close game, and sometimes that’s just the way they end,” Cease said. “We are not where we want to be. We haven’t won as many as we would have liked.

“I actually think we played pretty well of late. Much better than we were earlier in the year. It’s unfortunate that we got off to such a slow start, because I do really feel like we’ve been playing well.”