The good thing about this week’s series in the land of the Crawford Boxes and the choo-choo is that both Sean Burke and Davis Martin pitched extremely well, a big turnaround from their recent starts and a good sign for the stretch run. The bad thing — well, besides nearly the entire offense — is that Luis Castillo once again demonstrated that while Chris Getz may have had a very nice offseason, he had a miserable trade deadline.
Castillo started out looking good, striking out Jeremy Peña and Yordan
Alvarez. He then walked Isaac Paredes on 10 pitches and threw José Altuve a fastball that would have been a strike on Aaron Judge but was nose-high on Altuve. Altuve still sent it into the Crawford Boxes to make it 2-0 Astros.
The lead didn’t last long. Braden Montgomery singled off Hunter Brown to lead off the second, and Colson Montgomery followed with a routine ground ball to second. Peña blew the relay, though, and Chase Meidroth followed with an unplayable 50-mph dribbler. Jake Rogers and Sam Antonacci then delivered actual singles to tie the score.
There being no other Sox offensive highlights, what the heck, let’s show you the RBIs. First, Jake’s:
Nice stop by Peña, nice hustle by a catcher to avoid the DP. Then Sam’s, which actually made it to the outfield.
The Sox even got a single and a walk to lead off the third, but that apparently ticked off Brown, who entered the game 5-0 against them in his career. He then struck out the side, retired nine in a row and didn’t allow another hit through the sixth.
Meanwhile, the Astros were allowed to bat more against Castillo, which, as usual, was not a good thing. In the bottom of the third, they went single, HBP, double, triple, single to make it a 6-2 game. That was all they scored, but it was all they needed.
Will Venable left Castillo in for the fourth, when he stranded a couple of runners, but that was it for the alleged innings eater who has turned into just an appetizer nibbler. Tyler Schweitzer, Trevor Richards and even José Urquidy combined for four scoreless innings, but the feeble Sox offense didn’t manage another hit until a two-out Meidroth single in the ninth.
The one moment of good performance by Sox non-pitchers came on a nifty Braden grab with two on and two out in the fifth.
Baseball lore has it that if a player who makes a nice catch leads off the next inning, he always gets a hit. Braden only managed a walk, but that sorta counts. Didn’t matter, because Colson then hit into a real double play.
After the third, the Sox never stranded another runner in scoring position. But that’s because they never got another runner to second.
The White Sox fall to 73-67 but remain three games ahead of Cleveland, which lost to Toronto this afternoon. Their lead over Houston is down to 1 1/2 games, though. The Astros also hold the tiebreaker after winning the season series 5-2, which could matter for postseason positioning and home-field advantage if the teams finish with identical records.
The Sox now head home to face the Twins and Pirates beginning tomorrow night but, oddly, have Labor Day off.
As for the Sox MVP, there really isn’t one, but feel free to name somebody in the comments — maybe Meidroth for his two singles and two Ks, or the pen for four innings of scoreless work?
Castillo would seem to be the runaway choice for goat (not GOAT), but if you prefer a batter, Munetaka Murakami was 0-for-4 with three Ks. He is 1-for-20 and hasn’t homered since Aug. 18. Colson was also 0-for-4 with a strikeout while hitting into one double play and another that should have been.
I think I’d give the dishonor to Chris Getz for his terrible work at the trade deadline, but have at whomever you like in the comments.
