Shohei Ohtani, Taylor Ward homer, but White Sox rally to beat Angels
CHICAGO — Romy González just might play his way into a bigger role with the Chicago White Sox. If he keeps connecting like this, manager Pedro Grifol will have no choice.
González homered in his third straight game, Andrew Vaughn drove in three runs and Chicago beat the Angels 7-3 on Tuesday night.
The White Sox looked as if they were headed toward their fourth straight loss after the Angels grabbed a 3-1 lead against Lucas Giolito (4-4). But the White Sox turned it around in a big way, scoring five runs in the fourth against Tyler Anderson (2-1).
Vaughn smacked a three-run double to put Chicago on top. González, a utility player, drove him in with a double, stole third and scored when Urshela allowed catcher Chad Wallach’s throw to wind up in left field, stretching it to 6-3. He made it a four-run game with a solo homer in the sixth against Chase Silseth.
“If he keeps hitting home runs, he’s going to find himself somewhere to play every day,” Grifol said.
González struggled early on in a limited role, then went on the injured list because of inflammation in his right shoulder. He’s been playing more consistently with infielder Elvis Andrus sidelined because of a strained left oblique strained left oblique and has been delivering lately, going 10 for 29 in his past nine games with a plate appearance.
Grifol said he just seems to be having more fun. González called that “100% accurate.”
“It’s always tough when I’m not getting (consistent) at-bats,” he said. “It’s the role that I had to start the season. I didn’t do great at it. Obviously, I was playing a little banged up. I’m feeling healthy now and getting consistent at-bats. ... It’s definitely a big difference.”
Brandon Drury and Matt Thaiss each hit home runs and Ben Joyce made his major league debut for the Angels in a 6-4 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Luis Robert Jr. and Jake Burger each had three hits, and the White Sox came out on top despite a shaky start by Giolito. The right-hander lasted five innings, giving up three runs and four hits.
“The offense did such a wonderful job picking me up,” he said, adding the White Sox answered in the bottom half of both innings in which the Angels scored.
“We have this thing called shutdown innings, which is after your team scores, you go and shut them down,” Giolito added. They prevented that from happening twice, which gets the momentum directly back to our side.”
Taylor Ward hit his second career leadoff homer — both coming against Giolito in Chicago. The other was on April 29, 2022.
Shohei Ohtani started a two-run fourth with a 435-foot drive to center for his 13th home run, and Gio Urshela added a sacrifice fly to make it a two-run game.
Anderson allowed six runs and six hits over four innings for the Angels.
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