Angels jump on White Sox early
Ward and Ohtani homer in the first off Giolito as they win their sixth in a row.
CHICAGO — Taylor Ward has a message for opposing pitchers: Beware of these Angels bats.
“Absolutely. I think they should be scared,” said Ward, who belted his fifth home run of the season and fourth in five games as the Angels rolled past the Chicago White Sox 5-1 on Friday night. “We’re looking for pitches in a certain area as a team. When you have nine guys solidifying their approach like that, it’s really hard for pitchers.
“We’ve got to stick to our approach, like I said, and continue to roll.”
Ward and Shohei Ohtani hit first-inning, solo home runs off Lucas Giolito, and the Angels rode a combined three-hitter to their sixth straight win.
Ward finished with three hits and two RBIs, and Ohtani scored three runs as the Angels used seven pitchers to climb seven games over .500 for the first time since June 11, 2018.
Anthony Rendon had two doubles and an RBI and David Fletcher added two doubles in his return from a hip injury.
The Angels had 13 hits, eight for extra bases.
Tim Anderson had two hits for the White Sox, who have dropped 10 of 11. Anderson doubled in the bottom of the first and scored, but Chicago didn’t get another hit until Jose Abreu singled with two outs in the seventh.
Angels pitchers retired 18 straight White Sox batters on a night when scheduled starter Noah Syndergaard was scratched because of an undisclosed illness. Manager Joe Maddon said Syndergaard “wasn’t feeling well” before the game but wouldn’t elaborate on the symptoms. Jimmy Herget stepped in to start and tossed three innings, giving up a run and one hit. Austin Warren (2-0) followed with two perfect innings and Archie Bradley tossed a 1-2-3 sixth. Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera followed with a scoreless inning each. Mike Mayers got the first out of ninth but gave up Anderson’s second hit and struck Andrew Vaughn with a pitch. Raisel Iglesias got the final two outs and his sixth save as the White Sox loaded the bases.
“We’ve got a pretty good staff,” Herget said. “Once everybody’s clicking and stuff, we’re going to be tough to beat. It’s amazing; we feel unbeatable at this point.”
Ohtani’s fourth homer ended a 10-game longball drought for the two-way star, who hit 46 last season.
Giolito (0-1) gave up three runs and five hits while striking out seven in six innings, his longest outing this year.
“I would have liked to execute some more pitches than I did in the first inning,” said the former Studio City Harvard-Westlake High star. “A couple of poor pitches, a couple of home runs.”
Rain expected today
Should the teams be forced to play a doubleheader Sunday — heavy rain is in the forecast for Saturday — manager Joe Maddon hinted Syndergaard might be available to start. Syndergaard is 2-0 with a 1.04 earned run average in his first two starts. He signed a one-year, $21-million contract in November after being limited to two innings the past two years following Tommy John surgery in March 2020.