The Houston Astros fell to the Chicago White Sox by a score of 6-3 in Game 1 of the AL WC.
The Houston Astros started their playoff run on Tuesday, but it was a tough start as they fell to the Chicago White Sox by a score of 6-3.
In this game, the Astros had some struggles on the mound and were unable to get going from the plate until deeper into the game. With that said, it is time to recap this game to see what went down.
Starting with the pitching, it was a pretty tough showing overall as the Astros put in a total of eight pitchers for the night and allowed six runs, with five of those runs coming in the first five innings.
The eight pitchers who played in Game 1 included right-handed pitcher AJ Blubaugh, right-handed pitcher Bryan King, right-handed pitcher Miguel Ullola, right-handed pitcher Josh Hendrickson, right-handed pitcher Logan VanWey, right-handed pitcher Bennett Sousa, right-handed pitcher Bryan Abreu, and right-handed pitcher Josh Hader.
So, let's take a look and see how each pitcher performed in Game 1 and what adjustments the Astros may need to make heading into Game 2.
To start this game, the Astros went with Blubaugh, who pitched for 0.2 innings and allowed zero hits, one run, and walked three batters while posting an ERA of 0.00. Next was King, who pitched for 0.1 innings and allowed four hits, two runs, struck out one batter, and recorded an ERA of 54.
After King, manager Joe Espada put in Ullola, who pitched for three innings and allowed one hit, one run, struck out four batters, and posted an ERA of 3.00. Then Hendrickson came in to pitch 1.2 innings and allowed three hits, one run, and walked one batter while posting an ERA of 5.40.
The next pitcher up was VanWey who pitched 0.1 innings and allowed zero hits, zero runs, and had an ERA of 0.00. Following VanWey, Sousa got onto the mound for one inning and allowed two hits, one run, struck out one batter, and tallied an ERA of 9.00.
In the eighth inning, Houston went with Abreu who pitched one inning and allowed zero hits, zero runs, struck out one batter, and had an ERA of 0.00. As the final pitcher on the mound, the Astros went with Hader in the ninth inning as he pitched in that one inning and allowed one hit, zero runs, and posted an ERA of 0.00.
After looking at the performance the Astros got from the mound, it appears that the depth may still be a problem as they had to play eight pitchers. The main reason for that was the fact that the White Sox got on the board early and took advantage of opportunities, especially from King and Hendrickson.
Moving forward, the pitching has to be better, otherwise the Astros may lose on Wednesday as well which would end their season.
Now, looking at the scoring, the Astros were not able to get on the board until very late in the game, which put the White Sox in a position to essentially control this game from start to finish.
On that note, the scoring started at the top of the first inning as White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami hit a sacrifice fly to the right, which allowed left fielder Sam Antonacci to score and put Chicago up 1-0.
Then, at the top of the second, Antonacci singled to the left which brought right fielder Braden Montgomery and second baseman Chase Meidroth home and allowed Colson Montgomery to get to second which extended the White Sox lead to 3-0.
After that, at the top of the fourth inning, Colson Montgomery homered to center, which added another run to the total for the White Sox and put them up 4-0. At the top of the fifth, Meidfield reached on a single to shortstop, which enabled Murakami to score, got Braden Montgomery to second, and got center fielder Tristan Peters to third, putting Chicago up even more as the lead was extended to 5-0.
Following a dominant start for the White Sox, the Astros finally responded in the bottom of the fifth as left fielder Nelson Velazquez homered to the left and gave Lucas Spence the ability to score as well, which trimmed the Chicago lead to 5-2.
At the top of the seventh, the White Sox were able to respond as Murakami scored on a wild pitch from Sousa and designated hitter Randal Grichuk was able to get to third which exteded the Astros lead to 6-2.
Then, at the bottom of the eighth, shortstop Jeremy Pena scored, taking advantage of being at third base, second baseman Jose Altuve was safe at first following a throwing error by third baseman Miguel Vargas, and designated hitter Yordan Alvarez got to second, which cut the White Sox lead to 6-3.
Following the score at the bottom of the eighth, there was no more scoring and the White Sox were able to come out on top as they defeated the Astros 6-3.
In Game 2, the Astros must do a much better job of getting on the board a lot earlier by being able to take advantage of the opportunities they have when it comes to poor pitches or positioning on the bases.
With that said, the probable pitchers for Game 2 include right-handed pitcher Hunter Brown for the Astros and right-handed pitcher Sean Burke for the White Sox. Heading into Wednesday, it will be interesting to see how each of these pitchers performs, especially early on, and whether or not Brown can start the game better for the Astros on the mound.
So, heading into Game 2 on Wednesday, it is clear that Houston has to respond from the mound and from the plate, but if they do not, the Astros' season could be over following Game 2.
