Sept. 18 – Eric Wagnerheim will make his major league debut when the Los Angeles Angels take on the Chicago White Sox in the deciding game of a three-game series Wednesday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
So far, the 27-year-old third baseman is doing pretty well.
Wagnerman, a 13th-round pick of the New York Yankees in the 2017 draft, was promoted by the Angels from Triple-A Salt Lake City on Sept. 10. Beat the White Sox.
Over the past four games, Wagman, who grew up watching the Angels in nearby Aliso Viejo, is 7-for-16 (.437) with two home runs and three A doubles and 4 RBIs.
“It’s special to come out here and watch a home game,” Wagaman said. “There are so many friends and family in the stands. It’s great. It’s amazing.”
Angels manager Ron Washington said, “He’s shown great hitting skills. He gets the ball out, he stays back. He’s got some power. We’ll just have to wait and see where the ball goes. It’s impressive.”
Tuesday’s win snapped a six-game losing streak for Los Angeles (61-90). Wegman hit a home run for the second consecutive game, a 434-footer into the left-center pile.
“I’m trying to learn from one shot to the next and continue to work on improving my abilities with each shot,” Wagman said.
The Angels also got a strong bounce-back start from Griffin Canning, who allowed just three hits and two walk-offs in six scoreless innings while striking out six. Canning allowed a career-high 10 runs (9 ERA) in his last start, a 10-5 loss to Minnesota on September 10.
Chicago (36-116) had a rare three-game winning streak snapped, finishing with just six hits, including two each by Dominique Fletcher and Nicky Lopez. The White Sox were shut out for the 19th time this season, a major league record.
“We really didn’t have any momentum,” White Sox manager Grady Sizemore said. “I thought we had some chances, we had some good hitters. Then, couldn’t put anything together to create some offense. Just one of those days.”
This is something Chicago fans are very familiar with this season. The White Sox will need to go 7-3 in their final 10 games to avoid breaking the modern major league single-season record for losses (120 games), set by the 1962 New York Mets. The American League record for losses is 119 games, set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers.
Left-hander Jared Shuster (1-4, 4.54 ERA) will try to help Chicago win its second consecutive series on Wednesday. This will be Shuster’s first career start against the Angels and his fourth of the season.
Los Angeles will take on newbie Jack Kochanowicz (2-5, 5.08).
The right-hander has lost his last two starts, including a 6-4 loss to Minnesota on Sept. 11 when he allowed four runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings and added a run in 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts. That ended Kochanovic’s streak of five consecutive quality starts, the first Angels pitcher since Shohei Ohtani in 2021 to accomplish the feat.
Rookie Kochanovic has yet to pitch against the White Sox.
–Visual-level media
