Chicago White Sox vs Los Angeles Angels Match Player Stats On Apr 02, 2021

Jose Abreu's grand slam gave the White Sox a lead, but it was a rookie designated hitter who stood out in Chicago's 12-8 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.

Besides Abreu's 199th career home run, the White Sox got a home run from shortstop Tim Anderson among their 13 hits. Five of those hits came from DH Yermin Mercedes, who was making his first career major league start. Mercedes knocked in four runs.

Mercedes was 0-for-1 with no RBIs in his only previous major league game, last Aug. 2 for Chicago.

A five-run ninth for the White Sox opened up a tight game, and it was all set up by the performances of three relievers, who combined to shut down the Angels for 3 2/3 innings in relief of starter Dallas Keuchel.

Matt Foster tossed one inning, Michael Kopech (1-0) threw two innings and Evan Marshall got two outs ahead of Liam Hendriks. The Chicago closer got the final four outs for his first save despite giving up a two-run homer to Shohei Ohtani with two outs in the ninth.

The Angels took the lead in the first inning against Keuchel, scoring an unearned run with the help of a three-base error on the first baseman Abreu. Ohtani ripped a low liner that got past Abreu and went into the right field corner. It was initially ruled a triple before the official scorer changed the scoring.

Mike Trout's infield single scored Ohtani to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead.

Angels starter Andrew Heaney (0-1) retired the first seven batters he faced before the White Sox got a rally going with one out in the third. The highlight of the inning was the two-out grand slam by Abreu, the American League's reigning MVP.

Heaney got out of the third inning but didn't make it out of the fourth. After the first three batters of the inning all reached base, Heaney was given the hook. All three eventually scored and the White Sox had a 7-1 lead.

Albert Pujols' three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth got the Angels to within 7-4.

Keuchel allowed a single to Dexter Fowler and walked David Fletcher to start the fifth before he was removed for the game. Foster relieved Keuchel and was tasked with facing the heart of the Angels' lineup.

Foster struck out both Ohtani and Trout before Anthony Rendon hit a slicing fly ball down the right field line. Adam Eaton raced toward the line but was unable to make the play, winding up charged with a three-base error that allowed the Angels to get within 7-6.

--Field Level Media