Angels struggle to solve Sale, White Sox

White Sox starter Carlos Rodon, who has never faced the Angels, hasn’t made it to through five innings of his last two starts after issuing no walks in a victory over the Cleveland Indians….

The White Sox will take on a right-hander (Shoemaker) in this game and have a 43-45 record against right-handed starting pitchers this season.

The Houston Astros have surprised baseball experts since opening day, but the Los Angeles Angels have proven that they can contend for the division as well as the A.L. title with the personnel they have in place.

Sale got back to dominating hitters the way he usually does, allowing two runs in 7 1/3 innings, and Garcia clubbed two home runs to continue an impressive stretch at the plate.

Coming off his first All-Star Game selection, Santiago enters Tuesday 7-5 with a 2.78 ERA.

Shoemaker hadn’t allowed a run in his last three starts, but was tagged for seven on nine hits in 5 2-3 innings in this one as Los Angeles dropped its seventh straight on the road. Shoemaker hadn’t allowed a run in his previous three starts, which made him just the third pitcher in Angels history to post that many scoreless outings in a row with at least seven strikeouts in each start.

The Angels were led offensively by Mike Trout (2-for-3) and Johnny Giavotella, (2-for-4 with two RBIs).

But these aren’t the same White Sox he may remember now that catcher Tyler Flowers and shortstop Alexei Ramirez are the only position players still remaining.

“I think for him, most teams are going to try and do that”, Chicago manager Robin Ventura said.

“I’m using my top hands more”, Garcia said. He might have the mind-set, ‘This is the team I’m going to take it to.’ When is that guy going to come back? “It just seemed like he couldn’t get back into that good fastball command and controlling counts and containing counts”.

“After the first inning, he minimized some damage and then the home run to Flowers and then Garcia… He’s good at all his pitches for strikes and he can throw them for balls, too”.

Sale retired the Angels 1-2-3 twice, and Chris Iannetta grounded into a double play in the fifth after Giavotella’s leadoff single. “He’s human. You look at where he has been in the past and how he has gotten through it. He has always been able to bounce back and we’ve seen great stuff out of him”.