The Chicago White Sox were defeated on Monday night by the Los Angeles Angels. They are a bad team and we know that but they sort of had us fooled going into last weekend's series against the Detroit Tigers. They lost three of four to them coming into this series vs LA.
Michael Kopech made the start for the White Sox and it was a rather strange one for him. He gave up four runs in the first inning and then settled down to not give up another.
He also had 10 strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched so his stuff was there. That one bad inning drove up his pitch count and ended up being the demise of the team.
The team was able to muster up a handful of runs but it wasn't enough to overcome the shortcomings of Kopech in that first inning. He has been brilliant lately as those are the only four runs he's given up in 19.1 innings but it cost them in this one.
The Chicago White Sox do have one thing to feel good about right now.
Liam Hendriks Returns
On Monday night, the Chicago White Sox activated Liam Hendriks from his stint in AAA Charlotte. Of course, he was there to prepare for his season debut after defeating cancer.
This was one of the more memorable nights in the history of the team as one of its great players won the biggest game of his life.
A handful of runs were scored on Liam as this could not have been an easy game for him to actually pitch in but his fastball was cooking. As he works into the season, he will clearly be the Liam that we knew pre-diagnosis. It was amazing to see him back.
Other MLB News
On Monday, lots of Memorial Day action took place across Major League Baseball. There were a couple of extra notable performances to note.
First, against the Seattle Mariners, Aaron Judge hit two home runs in the New York Yankees' big win on the road. He also robbed a home run from Teoscar Hernandez later in the game to make sure that his team kept their extra large lead.
The Chicago Cubs were hosting the Tampa Bay Rays who are the best team in baseball right now. Marcus Stroman took the mound and threw a complete game shutout against that elite offense. He allowed just one hit (it didn't come until the seventh inning) and had eight strikeouts.
There are lots of great stories in the game right now but the last one that is going to be mentioned here is the San Francisco Giants. They hung 14 runs on the Pittsburgh Pirates to win 14-4. It is always fun to have those kinds of victories.
Hopefully, the White Sox can get back to their own victorious ways as the series against the Los Angeles Angels continues.