Some fans greeted former Chicago White Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada with boos when he stepped to the plate Saturday afternoon.
“Honestly, it doesn’t bother me,” Moncada told reporters covering the Los Angeles Angels through an interpreter. “There are fans that love me and fans that hate me. But I don’t pay attention to it.”
The third baseman helped provide the difference in a 1-0 Angels win in front of 20,602 at Rate Field.
With a runner on third and two outs in the eighth inning of a scoreless game, Moncada’s grounder back to the mound deflected off pitcher Mike Clevinger’s glove. Moncada raced to first while Clevinger collected the ball, and Jorge Soler scored what turned out to be the game’s lone run.
“It feels wonderful coming to play here in Chicago, facing my ex-team, and had the opportunity to get the go-ahead hit,” Moncada said.
The Sox hit some balls hard — including a lineout and groundout with exit velocities of 107.3 mph and 102.6 mph, respectively, by third baseman Miguel Vargas — but were held to two hits while suffering their first loss of the season.
Angels starter José Soriano allowed two hits, struck out five and walked two in seven innings. Andrew Benintendi had an infield hit in the fourth and Brooks Baldwin singled in the sixth.
“Tough assignment for anybody,” Sox manager Will Venable said of facing Soriano. “Kind of had us on their heels all day and we just weren’t able to kind of string good things together (offensively).”
The Angels had eight hits, including Moncada’s crucial infield knock.
He spent eight seasons with the Sox (2017-24), slashing .254/.332/.425 with 93 home runs and 338 RBIs in 739 games. He came to the Sox as part of the trade that sent Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox in December 2016 and was one of the game’s top prospects at the time. But limited because of injuries during his last three seasons with the White Sox, Moncada couldn’t display that potential on a consistent basis.
He appeared in just 12 games last year, sidelined most of the season with a left adductor strain. The Sox in November declined his $25 million option for 2025.
“I always try to play my best, unfortunately a few years ago, I couldn’t because due to injuries and things, but every time I go out there and try to play my best,” Moncada said.
Moncada signed with the Angels, a club that also includes former Sox infielders Tim Anderson and Nicky Lopez.
Moncada drew a walk in his one plate appearance in Thursday’s opener and went 1-for-3 with a walk Saturday.
A two-out walk by Soler in the eighth set in motion the game’s only run. Soler advanced to second on a wild pitch and continued to third when catcher Matt Thaiss couldn’t initially locate the ball.
“That was a tough one,” Venable said. “Obviously that hurt us and that was the deciding factor here. But Clev pitched well. Kind of a tough one for Matty to get in front of and (we) weren’t able to work around it, unfortunately.”
Thaiss said of the two-base wild pitch, “It sucks. Our pitching staff, they threw the hell out of the ball. It’s real tough not to get the win today.”
Moncada followed the wild pitch with the comebacker just off Clevinger’s mitt. The pitcher chased it down but couldn’t make a throw to first. It was Moncada’s first RBI since Sept. 29, 2023, against the San Diego Padres while with the White Sox.
Tough sequence aside, the Sox have had strong pitching efforts through two games.
After starter Sean Burke pitched six scoreless innings in Thursday’s opener, Jonathan Cannon followed by blanking the Angels for five innings Saturday.
Cannon allowed four hits, struck out five and walked three. He threw 85 pitches, 34 in the first inning.
“Definitely a little bit of a battle, didn’t have the command overall but made big pitches when I had to,” Cannon said. “Thought all the pitches were moving good. Overall it was a good start to the season.
“You know, first inning, first start of the season was a little bit amped up. Lost my command a little bit and was able to dial it back in and throw a really good sweeper to get out of that inning. Then after that, just kept battling.”
The Sox didn’t take advantage of the few opportunities they had with runners on base. They had just six base runners (the two singles and four walks). Andrew Vaughn grounded into a double play after Benintendi singled in the fourth and Baldwin got doubled off after trying to steal and racing back on a popup to shortstop Kevin Newman in the sixth.
“The ball just didn’t get up high enough really for (Baldwin) to get back there,” Venable said. “He’s trying to get that base. I think he understood that the ball was in the air and just kind of ran out of time to get back.”
Benintendi drew a two-out walk in the ninth. With the crowd cheering, Vaughn grounded out sharply to Newman to end the game.
Venable has seen positives through the 1-1 start.
“Certainly defensively is the first thing that comes to mind,” he said. “These guys have been working tremendously hard. Really pleased with the work they put in and showed up on the field. And then pitching, obviously, has been outstanding.”
Added Cannon: “I thought the defense played really well. We turned some very timely double plays there (two with him on the mound, three overall Saturday), but overall we played a really good game defensively. Our pitching staff and everyone keeps putting us in these situations, then we’re going to win a lot of games.”
