The White Sox disappointed in the first game of this four-game series in Houston, falling 6-3 to the Astros.
Things were calm until the third inning, when Anthony Kay saw a little base path trouble after a throwing error and a walk put two runners on. Yordan Alvarez sent Nick Allen in to score with a ground out, but a fly out straight to Sam Antonacci ended any further damage.
The White Sox knotted the score 1-1 right away, as Colson Montgomery doubled in the top of the fourth with one out, Chase Meidroth
singlingand him home. Tristan Peters was plunked, and in a pickoff attempt, the ball got away, sending Meidroth to third. Antonacci picked up a walk (without being hit!) to load the bases with two outs. Houston starter Peter Lambert’s command in the fourth drastically dropped, as he walked Munetaka Murakami to force in the lead run. Miguel Vargas left the bases loaded with a liner to second, but the Good Guys were up, 2-1.
Braden Montgomery got caught in-between on a Cam Smith liner to right, and as has happened too frequently that ball skipped past him for a triple. Kay was frazzled by the three-bagger, so much so that Nelson Velázquez crushed a home deep and high to left, making it 3-2, Astros.
It got worse from there, as the White Sox mustered no offense while Houston added on. In the fifth, three singles loaded the bases, with just one out. Instead of a pitch that would prompt a ground-ball double play to end the inning and keep the score tight, Kay walked in a run. Kay bounced back with a K, but with two outs was pulled in favor of Trevor Richards, who surrendered a double to Smith double and stretching the deficit to 6-2.
Three walks sandwiched around a fielder’s choice out packed the sacks for the Sox with two outs. As old friend Bennett Sousa came into the game for Houston, righty pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk stepped up to the plate. But on the first pitch, Grichuk sent one straight to the glove of left fielder Taylor Trammell, ending the frame.
Colson Montgomery homered in the seventh to trim the lead to 6-3, but that was it for any offense. Richards managed to shut the Astros down for the rest of his outing, and Houston-area local Tyler Davis took the mound in the eighth for a 1-2-3 inning with his entire family cheering him on — a light moment in an otherwise frustrating game.
With two outs, Meidroth picked up Chicago’s 10th walk of the game, but Brenton Doyle went down swinging for his second K in two plate appearances, handing the Astros a win.
MVP
Colson Montgomery: 2 R, 2 H, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB
Runners-Up
Chase Meidroth: 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI, 2 BB
Munetaka Murakami: 3 BB
Trevor Richards: 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 K, 0 ER
Cold Cat
Anthony Kay: 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Runners-Up
Andrew Benintendi: 0-for-3, 2 K
Braden Montgomey: Fielding woes, 0-for-5
Dysfunctional offense: 10 BBs but just two non-HR runs scored
