Postseason baseball never disappoints, and tonight’s game in Houston was no different. As both teams leveraged an opener for the first time in MLB playoff history, the South Side pitching won out in the end, as Chicago ends the day with a 1-0 lead over Houston in the AL Wild Card series after a 6-3 win. There were 15 combined runners left on base, 13 pitchers between both teams, 11 White Sox hits, and nine innings of anxiety-ridden baseball before the South Siders grabbed their first playoff win since
2021.
Astros opener AJ Blubaugh made his first appearance this season as a starter in today’s game, which would probably have stressed me out if that was how the White Sox approached today’s game. While lefthander Hagen Smith has only opened one other time this season, his vast experience as a starting pitcher and his success in that one open likely helped him settle in easier, and he looked solid in the first frame and kept it up through his entire, three-inning outing.
The White Sox got off to a hot start in the first inning, striking first after scoring a run with the assistance from Blubaugh and the Astros. Selectivity was key for the South Siders, as they drew three walks off of the righty, but a throwing error from Christian Walker on an unorthodox double-play attempt allowed Chicago to take an early 1-0 lead.
Sam Antonacci had led the game off with a walk to put the very first batter of the game on. He was able to reach third after Walker’s throw went into the outfield, setting up the perfect situation for a sacrifice fly. Once Antonacci reached third, I was pretty much just yelling “BALL IN AIR!” in my living room, and because Miguel Vargas walked, Munetaka Murakami was the one to come through in the clutch with a sacrifice fly out to right center to drive in the first run. Blubaugh walked Andrew Benintendi on the next at-bat, and that triggered Joe Estrada to go to the bullpen to bring in lefthander Bryan King.
King was able to strike out Tristan Peters to end the first, but he didn’t have the same success into the second inning. Back-to-back base hits from Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth began a hit parade, and King got into some trouble after hitting Colson Montgomery on a 1-2 pitch to load the bases and flip the lineup back to the top of the order. Already amped after reaching base earlier in the game, Antonacci ripped a two-run single into the left-center gap, tallying two insurance runs for the South Siders, 3-0. Once again the Astros quickly went to the bullpen to bring in righthander Miguel Ullola, who managed to escape the inning without any additional runs scoring after shutting the Sox down in order: Vargas grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Colson out on the force at home, and both Mune and Benny ended the inning with two straight strikeouts.
On the other hand, lefthander Hagen Smith was absolutely locked in for the first three innings. Outside of a two-out base hit from Isaac Paredes in the first, and another single from Cam Smith in the third, Hagen was able to hold his own with an excellent first career playoff outing. With a runner on third base and Alvarez coming up for the second time in the bottom of the third, Hagen came right at him and forced a weak ground out to end the threat and maintain the three-run lead.
Once Ullola was in the game for Houston, he settled things down a bit as he retired six straight White Sox batters, even stranding the bases loaded in the top of the second and shutting them down once again in the third. Finally the South Siders got to Ullola in the top of the fourth. Well, Colson Montgomery did at least, blasting a solo, 432-foot bomb to dead center to extend Chicago’s lead to four, 4-0.
Will Venable decided to go to the bullpen after the three frames from Smith, who ended the day on 38 pitches (28 strikes) and seven swings-and-misses, which ended up tying his teammate Grant Taylor for the most in the game. I was fully expecting Venable to go with Erick Fedde as the bulk reliever, but it seems the plan changed a bit once they had a four-run lead and Smith delivered three scoreless frames. Righthander Jordan Hicks came into the game in the top of the fourth, which is a fairly strange time for him, as he is typically a later-inning or high-leverage guy. As long as they get outs, I suppose, does it matter? It’s probable that the Sox are hoping to save Fedde for later this series.
The South Side offense continued to put the ball in play, putting up five runs on eight hits through five while going 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position, though they left seven on base up to that point. Murakami walked to lead off the fifth, and despite Randal Grichuk lining out sharply to deep center while pinch-hitting, the Good Guys tallied three straight hits. The rally ended with Chase Meidroth driving in an extra run to put the game out of one-swing territory, and the 5-0 lead took some of the pressure off of the Sox.
Venable’s pitching plan worked out just fine, as Hicks worked seamlessly through four straight batters (1 1/3 IP) before lefthander Sean Newcomb was called upon with one out in the bottom of the fifth. The southpaw immediately let up a hit to Cam Smith, and the Astros went with Nelson Velázquez to pinch-hit in the 9-spot. A clutch two-strike, two-run home run over the high wall in left field scored the first runs of the game for Houston, cutting the Sox lead to three, 5-2.
Thankfully, Newcomb forced a pop out from Jeremy Peña to get out of that inning, but Velázquez’s clout certainly injected some life back into the Astros. It’s unfortunate that the fatigue of the season might have caught up to Newcomb at the worst time, but he’s posted a 7.36 ERA in his last seven games (7 1/3 IP), though he is also being asked to wear as many hats as possible and at a point he can’t do it all.
It felt like the South Siders were going to get something going as Antonacci reached base for the third time of the game by getting hit by a pitch — shocking, I know — but the momentum was quickly killed by Kyle Teel grounding into a double play. Vargas ended the inning by flying out, and aside from walking in the first, the All-Star third baseman was cold at the plate.
Newcomb came back out to face Alvarez in a lefty-lefty matchup, and won the battle with a ground out to second for the first out of the inning. As Paredes stepped up to the plate, the South Siders went to the bullpen once again, and though the righthander typically starts, David Sandlin was excellent in relief and quickly navigated the final two outs with five pitches.
The Sox offense snagged one of those Houston runs back in the top of the seventh, after Murakami and Grichuk began the frame with back-to-back base hits. To put both runners in scoring position, Peters laid down a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt down the third-base line. Naturally, Chicago didn’t even score the run with a base hit after this, but lefthander Bennett Sousa struggled to control his slider and Mune scored on one of two wild pitches to make it 6-2, White Sox. In Sousa’s defense, the South Siders were whiffing on Sousa’s slider like crazy, but Yainer Diaz wasn’t able to wrangle it on his end behind the plate.
In a wild turn of events, Grant Taylor was called upon quite early in the bottom of the seventh, and while he did secure the final out of the inning, he ended up with a massive workload that he probably was not anticipating.
In the eighth, Taylor had 9-1-2 in the order, which was one of the biggest challenges the Chicago pitching staff faced. Velázquez stared at strike three on a 99 mph fastball down the middle, but Peña and Alvarez poked back-to-back hits to put runners on first and third with one out. Taylor buckled down and was able to strike out Paredes in a tense situation, bringing José Altuve up to bat. With two outs, Altuve tapped a soft grounder to third base, and while the throw barely beat the runner, it was off-line for an error, as Mune wasn’t able to hold onto first while stretching to catch the ball. The third run of the game scored for the Astros, cutting the lead in half, 6-3, bringing the tying run up to bat.
If we’re all being honest with each other, I felt like I was going to throw up for the next at-bat. It would be so Houston to hit a Mickey Mouse, three-run home run to tie the game, but Taylor was not going to let that happen on his watch. Working Diaz to a full count, Taylor slung a disgusting curveball that crossed-up the batter, as Diaz was likely looking for a fastball. By the time he was able to process the pitch, he had already struck out looking to end the inning.
Broadcast called out that the South Siders had mashed their 10th hit of the day off of left-handed pitching as Randal Grichuk slapped a hard-hit, two-out base hit, which was also Chicago’s 11th hit of the game. All this to say: The White Sox struggled against righthanders Ullola and Bryan Abreu, and thus weren’t able to make anything else happen in the ninth.
Into the bottom half, Venable shifted into video-game mode by letting Taylor finish out the game, looking to make a seven-out save with a three-run lead. The first at-bat nearly put me (and probably all of you) into panic mode, as he walked Christian Walker to lead off the inning. Taylor locked in like never before, and he struck out the next two batters to put the win with one out. In a stressful final at-bat, Taylor manufactured a ground out on his 54th (!) pitch to end the game and take a one-game lead over Houston. That was A LOT of outs to ask of Taylor in the playoff opener, but the righty rose to the occasion.
You read that right: WHITE SOX WIN!
The bats were hot all throughout the game, though they left nine on base as a team and hit .363 (4-for-11) with runners in scoring position, but if they could have driven in at least a couple more insurance runs, perhaps that game wouldn’t have been so stressful. Due to Hagen’s short open, Hicks wound up with the win — the first of his career in the postseason. If you forgot he pitched after all of that, I don’t blame you, but Sandlin also recorded a hold with his 1 1/3 innings of elite relief work, which is only a testament to how ability to get the job done when needed.
In Wild Card Series history, teams that win the first game of Wild Card Series have advanced to the LDS 15 out of 16 times, so the White Sox are now in the catbird seat to advance. We’ll be back again Wednesday with full coverage on Game 2, with Sean Burke projected as the starter.
