{"id":120717,"date":"2025-08-05T11:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T11:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/120717\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T11:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T11:18:11","slug":"3-takeaways-from-the-west-coast-trip-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/120717\/","title":{"rendered":"3 takeaways from the West Coast trip so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 The Chicago White Sox arrived at Angel Stadium on Friday needing two wins to surpass their 2024 total<\/a> of 41 victories.<\/p>\n

They quickly checked that off the list, taking the first two games of the series against the Los Angeles Angels. A chance for a sweep slipped away on Sunday when the Angels climbed out of a five-run hole and beat the Sox 8-5 on a walk-off three-run home run by Taylor Ward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Sunday was a gut punch for the Sox, there were still plenty of signs over the weekend of the strides the team has made and how they\u2019ve put last year in the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one had mentioned that we had surpassed (last year\u2019s total), which I think speaks to the fact that we\u2019ve all moved on and the people who were here last year have moved on,\u201d first-year Sox manager Will Venable said before Sunday\u2019s game. \u201cIt\u2019s just not a thing anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly positive as far as the progress of the organization from last year to this year. But we\u2019ve got more games to play and more wins to try to get. We\u2019re excited to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox were off Monday. They\u2019ll start the second half of the six-game trip on Tuesday in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Here are three takeaways from the first leg of the journey after the three games against the Angels.<\/p>\n

1. The power surge continued.
\n\"ChicagoChicago White Sox’s Josh Rojas hits a solo home run as Los Angeles Angels third baseman Yo\u00e1n Moncada watches during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

The Sox were clinging to a one-run lead Friday when Colson Montgomery came up with no runners on and two outs in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n

He clobbered a first-pitch sinker from Angels starter Tyler Anderson for a mammoth 433-foot home run to center field.<\/p>\n

The shortstop provided instant offense again in the first inning on Sunday, following an RBI single by Luis Robert Jr. with a three-run home run.<\/p>\n

The Sox have produced staggering power numbers in the second half. They are tied for the major-league lead with 28 home runs following the All-Star Break after ranking 28th in the first half with 76.<\/p>\n

The Sox hit four solo home runs in Friday\u2019s 6-3 victory<\/a>. Andrew Benintendi and Lenyn Sosa homered in the second inning, Montgomery\u2019s came in the sixth and Josh Rojas capped the night with a home run in the ninth.<\/p>\n

It was the second straight four-homer performance for the Sox, who had home runs by Kyle Teel, Montgomery, Miguel Vargas and Edgar Quero on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Rate Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys are being aggressive and going in there with a good game plan,\u201d Rojas said after Friday\u2019s game. \u201cThe biggest thing I\u2019ve been seeing is guys are sticking to the plan. Take the borderline pitches, the called strikes you don\u2019t want, stay in your spot and be aggressive there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery, in particular, has been on a tear. All seven of his home runs have come since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been outstanding, continues to take really good swings,\u201d Venables said after Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

2. Starter Aaron Civale is in a groove.
\n\"ChicagoChicago White Sox starting pitcher Aaron Civale throws to the plate during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

Aaron Civale surrendered an infield hit and a walk to begin the fourth inning Saturday.<\/p>\n

He said his mindset during the jam was, \u201cJust not to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Civale struck out Ward looking. Jo Adell lined out to Montgomery at shortstop. And former Sox Yo\u00e1n Moncada struck out swinging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re competitive at-bats leading up to that point,\u201d Civale said. \u201cJust continue to attack and continue to stay with what we were doing and make adjustments as we see.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can think about hitters\u2019 aggressiveness with runners in scoring position. So trying to use that to your advantage a little bit. At the end of the day, you\u2019re trying to read what they\u2019re doing and make the best pitch based on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Civale kept making his best pitch throughout the outing. He teamed up with relievers Brandon Eisert and Jordan Leasure for a one-hitter in a 1-0 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Civale allowed the one hit, struck out eight and walked two in 6 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

It was the first one-hitter for the Sox since May 19, 2023, against Kansas City<\/a> and their first 1-0 victory at Angel Stadium since Sept. 22, 1993.<\/p>\n

Civale has pitched 17 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run over his last three starts, lowering his ERA from 5.30 to 3.56.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis game is momentum-based, just working on a lot of things in between,\u201d Civale said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see some things clicking on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results are the results, it\u2019s something you can\u2019t really control. It\u2019s nice to have them, but at the end of the day the most important thing is covering innings and giving the team the chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Miguel Vargas\u2019 setback is the latest injury hurdle.
\n\"WhiteWhite Sox second baseman Chase Meidroth is hit by a pitch to his right hand in the fifth inning against the Phillies at Rate Field on July 30, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Sox learned just before Saturday\u2019s game that Vargas would be unavailable after suffering a left oblique strain. The third baseman\/first baseman went on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to Saturday) on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor an oblique, we\u2019re not expecting it to be as long as some of the other ones,\u201d Venable said Sunday morning. \u201cBut it\u2019s still an oblique, it\u2019s still sensitive. We want to make sure we take care of it and progress him slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox had to navigate the final two games of the series without Vargas. Second baseman\/shortstop Chase Meidroth didn\u2019t start in any of the three games (he made an appearance as a defensive replacement late Sunday) as he recovered after getting hit by a pitch on the right thumb on Wednesday against the Phillies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, the club won its fourth series since coming back from the break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we get out of here feeling good about the fact we played a good series against a good team, and specifically for our pitching staff,\u201d Venable said on Sunday. \u201cThey did a really nice job. Especially (Saturday).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to keep going. That\u2019s what we do, we\u2019ve done it all year. Tough loss (Sunday), that\u2019s part of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 The Chicago White Sox arrived at Angel Stadium on Friday needing two wins to surpass…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":120718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[19406,75013,960,1274,29987,5386,1818,1285,27038,13250],"class_list":{"0":"post-120717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-aaron-civale","9":"tag-angels-stadium","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-white-sox","12":"tag-colson-montgomery","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-los-angeles-angels","16":"tag-miguel-vargas","17":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114975886787267989","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}