There haven’t been too many positives for the Chicago White Sox this season. But after winning two in a row to give them their first series win in nearly three months, they’ll look to make it three when they open a six-game road trip with a three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., on Monday.
The White Sox (35-115), long ago cemented with the worst record in the major leagues, are coming off a pair of victories against the Oakland Athletics. They last won a series when they took two of three from the Colorado Rockies on June 28-29. Those two wins were preceded by one against the Atlanta Braves, giving them only their third three-game winning streak of the season.
“If there’s one thing we’ve learned this season, it’s you can’t take major league wins for granted,” said Gavin Sheets, who homered Sunday. “To get back-to-back wins and get a series win, it feels really good. We have to enjoy these times, and we keep it going.”
Chicago is looking to avoid making history on the road trip. Should they go 1-5, they’d have 120 losses to tie the modern-day record held by the 1962 New York Mets. If they go 0-6, it would give them 121 losses, setting a new record.
“We want to finish playing our best version of baseball,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “We’ve been sneaking some wins here and there and to get a series win here, it’s right back to the same mindset. Let’s go out there, get the first game against Anaheim and try to get another series win.”
Jonathan Cannon (3-10, 4.56 ERA) will toe the rubber for Chicago. The 24-year-old rookie, who will be facing the Angels for the first time, has a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings pitched in his two starts in September.
Los Angeles (60-89), meanwhile, enters the series looking to snap a five-game slide. Swept by the Houston Astros over the weekend, the Angels trailed 6-0 Sunday before scoring four in the eighth and ninth innings to narrow it to 6-4 in the finale.
Rookie pitcher Caden Dana, the second-youngest player in the majors, didn’t make it out of the fourth inning in his third career start. The 20-year-old allowed five runs on five hits.
“(The Astros) found holes,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “You want the ball on the ground, but they found holes. He was a little flat with the fastball but had a good changeup working.”
Reid Detmers (4-6, 5.64 ERA) will get the nod for Los Angeles in the opener against the White Sox. He’s faced the club only once in his career, giving up one run in seven innings of a no-decision last season.
Though it’s been a rough stretch for the Angels of late, the past two games have been good to infielder Eric Wagaman. The 27-year-old, who grew up an Angels fan 20 miles south of Anaheim and made his major league debut on Tuesday, is 3-for-8 with three doubles in his past two games.
“It’s definitely pretty special,” Wagaman said. “It felt good to get the first one out of the way (Saturday). I feel like I’ve taken a couple good swings and they haven’t fallen, but it’s part of the game.”
