Baseball

Venable Gets 1st Win with the White Sox in an 8-1 Victory over the Angels; Opening Day Starter Kikuchi’s Debut Ends in Loss

AP
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning of an opening-day baseball game in Chicago on Thursday.

The Associated Press

10:34 JST, March 28, 2025

CHICAGO (AP) — Sean Burke pitched six sparkling innings and Will Venable got his first win as a big league manager Thursday, directing the Chicago White Sox to an 8-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on opening day.

Andrew Benintendi, Lenyn Sosa and Austin Slater homered as Chicago began what it hopes will be a more promising season than a year ago, when it went 41-121 to break the post-1900 major league record for losses.

Venable, 42, stepped into a challenging rebuilding project when he was hired in October. The former big league outfielder was an associate manager for Texas the past two years.

Yusei Kikuchi (0-1) pitched six innings of three-run ball in his Los Angeles debut. The Japanese left-hander signed a $63 million, three-year contract with the Angels in free agency.

Los Angeles lost on opening day for the 11th time in the last 12 years, including four in a row.

Burke (1-0) allowed three hits, struck out three and walked none. Penn Murfee, Jordan Leasure and Mike Clevinger combined for three scoreless innings before Logan O’Hoppe homered for the Angels against Cam Booser in the ninth.

After Ryan Johnson was hit hard in his big league debut for the Angels, infielder Nicky Lopez got the final out of the eighth in his first game with Los Angeles.