Davis Martin is confident the Chicago White Sox can continue their rare upturn.
Martin will get another chance to show he should be considered part of the club’s future when he takes the mound against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
The White Sox (36-115) won the opener of the three-game series 8-4 on Monday, giving them three straight victories for the first time since June 27-29.
“Wins have been hard to come by, so when you can get one, you appreciate it,” Chicago interim manager Grady Sizemore said postgame. “When you can get a couple in a row, it’s even better. It was a good atmosphere in that dugout, and the guys are happy in there right now.”
Martin said over the weekend, “I think we’re closer than everybody thinks. Granted, yes, the record’s bad, but I think we’re playing good baseball in a sense that we’re not putting nine innings together, but for seven or eight innings, we’re doing a really good job.
“We’re grinding at-bats, we have guys that are grinding on the mound, but the difference in this game is you have to complete nine innings of baseball and that’s just eluded us this year.”
The White Sox, who have hit the fewest home runs in the majors this season (123), belted four against the Angels on Monday, including two by Andrew Benintendi.
Andrew Vaughn also tripled and homered for Chicago, and Lenyn Sosa homered and singled.
“We could definitely feel the energy in the dugout,” Vaughn said. “We were rolling. Everybody was swinging the bat well, and you know, hitting is contagious.”
Martin (0-4, 4.14 ERA) is looking for his first major league win in nearly two years, having missed more than a year following Tommy John surgery.
He is coming off his worst outing of the season on Wednesday, when he took a loss after allowing five runs and six hits in three innings of a 6-4 setback to the Cleveland Guardians.
Martin has never faced the Angels in his career.
The Angels will give the ball to right-hander Griffin Canning (5-13, 5.35). He is also coming off his worst start of the season, when he surrendered a career-high 10 runs (nine earned) and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 10-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 10.
“Just left a lot of pitches in the middle of the plate,” Canning said. “The ones that were a little bit down, they laid off. A little bit up, they laid off. They were getting pitches in the middle and putting good swings on them.”
Canning has made two starts against the White Sox in his career and won them both, compiling a 2.77 ERA.
Los Angeles starter Reid Detmers gave up six runs in the first two innings on Monday, when the Angels (60-90) dropped 30 games under .500 for the first time in 25 years. Detmers bounced back to go 5 1/3 innings and allow only one more run.
“What he did do for us (Monday) night is he saved our bullpen by getting us five,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of Detmers. “If we had a bullpen full (Monday) night, you might not have seen him after the third inning.”
White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada was activated on Monday, but did not appear in the series opener. Moncada hadn’t played since April 9 after sustaining an adductor strain.
Sizemore said before the Monday game that he didn’t have a set plan for when Moncada would return to the starting lineup, preferring to get reps for Bryan Ramos and Miguel Vargas over the final two weeks of the season.
