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Angels Take Opening Set, But New-Look White Sox Flash Firepower

CHICAGO – The first series of 2025 at chilly Rate Field had a little bit of everything: a grand slam, a 16-run outburst, a pair of bullpen meltdowns and a mini-roster shakeup. When the smoke cleared, the Los Angeles Angels left town with a 2–1 series win, while the Chicago White Sox came away with equal parts frustration and encouragement.

The headline: the Sox are going to score. The worry: can they stop anybody?

Game 1: Grand Slam Glory, Bullpen Heartbreak

Angels 10, White Sox 6 – March 27

Opening Night followed a script White Sox fans have seen too often.

Down 1–0 after a Mike Trout homer in the first, the Sox exploded in the third. Korey Lee ripped a single, Kyle Teel walked, and Chase Meidroth worked a free pass to load the bases. Andrew Vaughn then announced the start of his season with authority, turning on a José Soriano pitch and lining a grand slam to right to give Chicago a 4–1 lead and send the crowd into early-season delirium.

For a while, Shane Smith made it hold. Trout’s third-inning blast and Logan O’Hoppe’s two-run shot in the fourth chipped away, but Smith gutted through 5.1 innings, leaving with the game tied 4–4.

From there, the bullpen avalanche started.

Bryse Wilson allowed an RBI single in the sixth to put L.A. ahead, then completely lost the handle in the seventh. Kevin Newman singled, Jorge Soler worked a full count before smashing a two-run homer to left, and two batters later Taylor Ward added another two-run shot. By the time the inning mercifully ended, the Angels had hung a four-spot and led 9–4.

The Sox showed some fight – Lee added a two-run single in the eighth and Lenyn Sosa doubled – but never truly threatened again. Final line for the relief crew: 3.2 innings, 6 runs, two long balls, and all of the optimism from Vaughn’s slam washed away.

“It’s tough,” Vaughn would’ve said in any clubhouse scrum. “You feel like you did enough early and then it gets away from you. But it’s Game 1. We’ll be fine.”

Game 2: 16-Run Statement in the Cold

White Sox 16, Angels 3 – March 29

Two days later, the Sox delivered the kind of response every manager dreams about.

Facing veteran lefty Yusei Kikuchi in 36-degree weather with a biting left-to-right wind, Chicago’s offense simply refused to be contained. Chase Meidroth set the tone immediately, lacing a leadoff double and scoring on an Andrew Vaughn single in the first.

The real damage came in the third.

After a brief rain delay, Meidroth reached, Vaughn singled again, Luis Robert Jr. singled, and Miguel Vargas blew the game open with a three-run triple into the right-center gap. The carousel kept turning: Lenyn Sosa doubled Vargas home, Andre Lipcius followed with another RBI triple, and Nick Maton capped the inning with an RBI single. Six runs, six hits and a rattled Kikuchi who didn’t see the fourth.

The fourth inning was somehow worse for the Angels.

Vargas reached again, this time on a grounder and outfield error that plated two more. Lee singled in a run, Sosa doubled again, Lipcius crushed a two-run homer to left, and Maton followed with a 402-foot solo shot of his own. Meidroth doubled yet again and Vaughn singled him home to complete an eight-run frame. By the time the inning was over, the Sox led 15–2.

On a day with 20 Chicago hits, there were stars everywhere:

Miguel Vargas: triple, five RBI, constant loud contact.

Chase Meidroth: three extra-base hits out of the leadoff spot, four runs scored, three steals.

Andrew Vaughn: four more hits and three RBI, continuing his early tear.

Lenyn Sosa & Andre Lipcius: two doubles apiece plus Lipcius’s homer, giving the bottom of the order real teeth.

Nick Maton: three hits, including his own long ball.

On the mound, Mike Vasil’s line (3 IP, 2 ER) wasn’t pretty, but he handed a lead to Mike Clevinger, who stabilized things with 3.2 innings of one-run work before Justin Dunn and Justin Anderson tossed scoreless frames.

The 16–3 final felt like a statement: if you leave the ball over the plate, this lineup is going to punish you, cold air or not.

Game 3: Detmers Dominates, Sox Chasing All Day

Angels 10, White Sox 4 – March 30

The rubber match quickly turned into a long Sunday for Chicago.

Martin Pérez’s first start as a White Sock unraveled in the second. After Taylor Ward reached via hit-by-pitch and gave way to pinch-runner Ryan Noda, a walk and then Jo Adell’s screaming three-run triple to dead center put L.A. on top 3–0.

Matt Thaiss briefly answered with a solo blast off Reid Detmers in the bottom half, but the third inning was a full-scale collapse. Soler led off with a homer, O’Hoppe and Trout singled, walks piled up, and the Angels strung together patient at-bats and line drives to push six more runs across. Detmers got plenty of help from the Sox’ wildness; Pérez and Bryse Wilson combined for four walks in the inning as Los Angeles built a 9–1 cushion.

From there Detmers took over. The lefty held Chicago to two runs over six innings, striking out nine and repeatedly escaping mild traffic with well-spotted breaking balls. Thaiss doubled and scored in the fourth and later singled again, while Lipcius and Zach DeLoach chipped in run-scoring hits in the eighth, but the Sox never seriously threatened.

Nicky Lopez’s solo shot off Justin Anderson in the eighth made it 10–2 before the late Chicago mini-rally set the 10–4 final.

If Opening Night was a bullpen loss, the finale was squarely on the shoulders of the rotation. Pérez’s line – 2.2 IP, 9 R (8 ER), 6 hits, 5 walks – summed up the day.

Early Themes: Big Bats, Big Questions

Three games is a tiny sample, but some trends already stand out.

1. The top of the order looks legit.
Chase Meidroth reached base constantly and stole four bags in the series. Andrew Vaughn exited the weekend with a grand slam, multiple multi-hit games and already looking like the lineup’s anchor. When those two are on in front of Robert Jr., Vargas and Lee, the Sox can bury teams in a hurry, as Game 2 showed.

2. The bottom isn’t a black hole.
Lenyn Sosa, Andre Lipcius, Matt Thaiss and Nick Maton all contributed extra-base damage. That’s a notable change from recent White Sox teams that relied on three or four hitters to do all the work.

3. Pitching depth is going to be tested.
Shane Smith flashed enough to stay in the rotation conversation, but both Wilson appearances were rough, and Pérez’s first outing was a disaster. Clevinger and Dunn were the bright spots out of the ‘pen, while Vasil showed just enough to be intriguing. Still, 23 runs allowed in three games is not a sustainable blueprint.

Roster Moves: Rehab Caravan to Charlotte

While the Angels series played out on the South Side, the transaction wire kept humming – and all roads led to AAA Charlotte:

March 28: SS Josh Rojas began a rehab assignment with the Knights.

March 30: 1B Mike Tauchman followed, also heading to Charlotte on rehab.

March 31: RP Tyler Gilbert was sent out on his own rehab stint, giving Charlotte a suddenly crowded pitching staff.

Those impending returns forced some early tough decisions:

3B Bryan Ramos was optioned to AAA, where he’ll get everyday at-bats rather than bounce around a bench role.

LF Austin Slater was waived and designated for assignment, clearing out one veteran corner-outfield spot as the club leans into younger, more versatile pieces like DeLoach and Jankowski.

The message is pretty clear: the Sox are treating 2025 as a transition year but not a passive one. Rehab returns and prospect promotions are going to churn the roster, and underperformers won’t be gifted long leashes.

Big-Picture Takeaway

The Angels leave town with a series win, but the story of the opening set is more nuanced for Chicago:

Ceiling: When the bats click, as they did in the 16–3 demolition, this team looks explosive and genuinely fun.

Floor: When starting pitching falters and the bullpen is asked to cover too many stressful innings, things can snowball quickly – and they did twice.

If the Sox can find a stable five in the rotation and tighten up the middle-relief bridge, they’ve got enough offense to hang around in the AL Central all season. If not, fans might be seeing a lot of 10–6 and 10–4 scorelines – on both sides – as 2025 unfolds.

Either way, after one frigid, chaotic weekend, one thing is clear: this version of the White Sox won’t be boring.