A Monday night in Anaheim was the setting of an encouraging high point in the season for a veteran hurler…until it suddenly wasn’t. And it was a promising continuation of some patient situational hitting, until it wasn’t enough.
A fifth-inning disaster descended upon Mike Pelfrey and the White Sox in a hurry, and a mid-game 3-0 lead was erased as a wave of Angels home runs doomed the Sox to a 5-3 loss.
After mostly cruising through four shutout frames, Pelfrey lost control of his pitches and the game itself. A hard Andrelton Simmons line out to center to lead off the frame was the most harmless at-bat of the inning for Pelfrey, as he lost a close full-count battle to Cameron Maybin for the first of a pair of walks, and fell behind Kole Calhoun just enough to ready him for a 92 mph sinker that split the plate.