Chase Meidroth delivered the biggest swing of the season as the White Sox beat the Astros to win their first postseason series since 2005.
For the first time since the 2005 World Series championship, the Chicago White Sox have won a postseason series.
It's reality, White Sox fans. You will play in the ALDS. You will have October baseball, and you will have home playoff games at Rate Field this season.
After three consecutive years of 100+ losses, Chicago's magic continued in Houston this week.
It was a 7-3 final score on Wednesday, highlighted by another strong bullpen effort and a massive three-run home run from second baseman Chase Meidroth just as the walls were beginning to close in.
For the second straight game, the White Sox blitzed Houston's pitching staff in the first inning. Astros right-hander Hunter Brown entered Wednesday 6-0 in six career appearances against the White Sox, but Chicago made him throw 36 pitches, pushed across four runs and chased him from the ballgame before the first inning was over.
The same patient approach that helped the White Sox get into Houston's bullpen early on Tuesday once again had Astros manager Joe Espada pressing the panic button, while Astros fans at Daikin Park were already booing their team in the early innings.
But it's playoff baseball, so things can never be that easy.
Jeremy Peña hit a leadoff home run for Houston, and White Sox starting pitcher Sean Burke allowed two more solo shots to make it a 4-3 game entering the fifth.
The White Sox bats, meanwhile, saw 13 straight hitters retired as the momentum began to shift back toward Houston.
Manager Will Venable had a quick hook with Burke and again with Huascar Brazoban in the fifth inning. Starting pitcher Anthony Kay came into the ballgame out of the bullpen to face soon-to-be AL MVP Yordan Alvarez with the bases loaded.
Kay got Alvarez to line out, then retired Jose Altuve to escape the bases-loaded jam and preserve Chicago's one-run lead.
That set the stage for one of the most iconic home runs in White Sox franchise history.
And that's no hyperbole either.
In the top of the sixth inning, Chase Meidroth got a hanging breaking ball over the heart of the plate from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu and did not miss it. He launched it 390 feet over the wall in left-center field and knew it right off the bat.
That allowed the White Sox to take a breath. Jordan Hicks and Erick Fedde came out of the bullpen to finish the job.
It was complementary baseball from the White Sox on all fronts in Houston. The offense did its job, the bullpen was electric, and manager Will Venable seemed to press all the right buttons.
"Get in and get hot." That's the motto of every Major League Baseball team when the season begins. And while the White Sox certainly had their share of bumps in the road down the stretch, they did enough to secure a place in the postseason.
They're in. They're hot. And now they'll have their chance to avenge the AL Central.
A date with the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS awaits.
