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 ...
