Michael Lorenzen fell two outs short of his first career complete game and Mike Trout had two hits, including a solo home run, as the visiting Los Angeles Angels exhaled with a 6-5 win against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon.
Entering the ninth inning with a shutout intact, Lorenzen allowed three hits, the last a two-run double off the bat of Leury Garcia, before Raisel Iglesias yielded two more runs. Chicago collected five runs and six hits and sent 11 men to the plate in the inning, as Ryan Tepera notched his first save of the season by getting Gavin Sheets to ground out to first base with the bases loaded to end the game.
Iglesias hit Jose Abreu with a 1-2 pitch to force in a run one batter earlier.
Trout smacked a solo home run against White Sox lefty Dallas Keuchel two batters into the afternoon. Two innings later, a Taylor Ward single overturned by replay followed by a Trout double set Los Angeles up for an RBI groundout from Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon’s RBI sacrifice fly.
Ohtani later left the game in the ninth inning with right groin tightness.
The Angels added a run on Andrew Velazquez’s RBI double in the fourth inning.
Keuchel fell to 1-3 after yielding four runs on six hits in five innings while walking five and striking out one.
Lorenzen (3-1) gladly seized the run support en route to the best outing of a career that includes 30 starts among 299 appearances. The right-hander spaced three runs and nine hits in 8 1/3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts while throwing 100 pitches. Lorenzen’s previous career-long start was seven innings.
White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson went 3-for-5 with an RBI, tallying his third straight multi-hit game in the series, which is set to conclude with a Monday matinee. Luis Robert, Gavin Sheets and Josh Harrison each added two hits as Chicago out-hit Los Angeles 12-9.
Ward had two hits for the Angels, who have won seven of eight. Jack Mayfield and Jo Adell drove in what proved to be crucial runs in the ninth.
–Field Level Media