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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.
Key moment
With Chicago leading 3-0 in the eighth, Clevinger replaced
Leasure with runners at the corners and two outs. The
right-hander walked Mike Trout before striking out Jorge Soler,
ending the inning.
Key stat
Kikuchi is one of a major league-record three Japanese-born
pitchers who started on opening day this year, joining Yoshinobu
Yamamoto of the Dodgers and Shota Imanaga of the Cubs.
Up next
Following an off day, right-handers José Soriano and Jonathan
Cannon take the mound on Saturday. Soriano made 20 starts and
two relief appearances for Los Angeles last year, going 6-7 with
a 3.42 ERA. Cannon had a 4.49 ERA over 124 1/3 innings during
his rookie season with Chicago in 2024.
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