Sept. 17 – Davis Martin is confident the Chicago White Sox can continue their rare turnaround.
Martin will get another chance to prove he should be considered part of the club’s future on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, California.
The White Sox (36-115) won the first game of a three-game series 8-4 on Monday, their first three-game win since June 27-29.
“Wins don’t come easy, so when you can get a win, you’re grateful,” Chicago interim head coach Grady Sizemore said after the game. “When you can get a few in a row, it’s even better. There’s a good atmosphere in that dugout and the players are happy in there now.”
“I think we’re a lot closer than we thought,” Martin said over the weekend. “Of course, yes, the record is terrible, but I think we’re playing well, in the sense that we’re not putting together nine innings, but putting together seven games.”
“We’ve got our hitters grinding it out, we’ve got guys on the mound that are grinding it out, but the difference in this game is you have to complete nine innings of baseball, and we haven’t been able to do that this year.”
The White Sox, who have hit the fewest homers (123) this season, scored four runs against the Angels on Monday, including two home runs by Andrew Benintendi.
Andrew Vaughn also had a triple and a home run for Chicago, and Lenin Sosa also had a home run and a single.
“We can definitely feel the energy in the dugout,” Vaughn said. “We’re moving around. Everybody’s swinging the bat well, and you know, hitting is contagious.”
Martin (0-4, 4.14 ERA) is looking for his first big league win in nearly two years after missing more than a year following Tommy John surgery.
He had his worst game of the season on Wednesday, when he gave up five runs and six hits in three innings in a 6-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
Martin has never faced the Angels in his career.
The Angels gave the ball to right-hander Griffin Canning (5-13, 5.35). He had his worst start of the season, pitching a career-high 5 2/3 innings in a 10-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 10, giving up 10 runs (9 ERA) and 9 hits.
“It leaves a lot of pitches in the middle of the plate,” Canning said. “The guys that were a little lower gave up. The guys that were a little higher gave up. They put the ball in the middle and that gave them a good swing.”
Canning has made two career starts against the White Sox, winning both times with a 2.77 ERA.
Los Angeles starter Reid Detmers gave up six runs in the first two innings on Monday and the Angels (60-90) fell 30 games below .500 for the first time in 25 years. Detmers rebounded and went 5 1/3 innings, allowing only one more run.
“He saved our bullpen (Monday) night by bringing in five guys for us,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of Detmers. “I took him out after the third inning.”
White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada was activated Monday but did not appear in the series opener. Moncada has not played a game since suffering an adductor strain on April 9.
Sizemore said before Monday’s game that he had no set plan for when Moncada would return to the starting lineup, preferring to play behind Brian Ramos and Miguel Vargas the final two weeks of the season.
–Visual-level media
