A bullpen game blows up for Houston Astros in Game 1 loss to Chicago White Sox in AL wild-card opener
· Yahoo Sports
In dueling bullpen games to begin a playoff series, the Houston Astros' stumbled and their opponent's stood firm. As a result, the Astros fell right back into a familiar position.
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Losing 6-3 to the Chicago White Sox in Game 1 of the AL wild card round Tuesday left Houston on the brink of elimination in the best-of-three series. The Astros, whose playoff hopes remained in jeopardy until the final day of the regular season, will start ace Hunter Brown in Game 2 trying to sustain them.
Neither Houston nor Chicago had time to reset its rotation before this series started, spurring both to deploy their bullpens in the opener. The Astros used eight different pitchers. Five allowed at least one run. They trailed 3-0 after two innings and 5-0 in the fifth.
They brought the potential tying run to the plate in the eighth. Jose Altuve sprinting on a chopper to third elicited a wide throw, scoring a run and extending the inning. With two on, and a paid crowd of 34,011 standing at Daikin Park, Yainer Diaz took a full-count Grant Taylor curveball for strike three.
The Astros finished hitless in seven at-bats with a runner in scoring position. The White Sox were 4-for-11 and left eight men on base, the latter mark reflecting a game that could have been more lopsided.
AJ Blubaugh and Bryan King, the first two Astros pitchers, faced 11 total batters. Eight reached base. Chicago scored three runs before recording its fourth out, undermining three strong ensuing innings from Miguel Ullola and giving Houston's rested leverage relievers no lead to protect.
Most appeared anyway. Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader, on five and six days' rest, worked the final two innings. It perhaps let them shed any rust but means that, if this series goes three games, both could face pitching on three consecutive days.
The White Sox totaled 11 hits, all but one against left-handed pitchers. Lefty Bennett Sousa allowed a pair of singles in the seventh before unleashing a wild pitch that allowed an insurance run to score.
Houston amassed six. Nelson Velázquez's pinch-hit, two-run home run in the fifth inning comprised its scoring until the eighth. Chicago's bullpen compiled the majors' eighth-lowest ERA during the season. Five pitchers combined to put the White Sox on the cusp of advancing and the Astros back in peril.
How AJ Blubaugh fared as opener
Houston tabbed Blubaugh, the rookie right-hander who led the majors in relief innings this season, as its opener for Game 1. Chicago's lineup featured six left-handed or switch-hitters in its first seven spots. But Blubaugh held left-handed hitters to a .622 OPS this season.
"(Blubaugh) can go to places where we feel like we can create some swing-and-miss," manager Joe Espada said pregame.
The White Sox, as an offense, will strike out. They posted the majors' second-highest whiff rate and fifth-highest strikeout rate during the season, per Baseball Savant. But they also chased out of the zone at the sixth-lowest clip and had the sport's sixth-highest walk rate.
Astros pitchers, meanwhile, issued the second-most walks in baseball. And that is what manifested over Blubaugh's outing. Blubaugh faced five batters in the first inning. Three walked. One scored, putting the Astros in a 1-0 hole and chasing Blubaugh early.
An error on first baseman Christian Walker, on an off-balance throw, allowed Sam Antonacci an extra 90 feet and set up Munetaka Murakami's sacrifice fly. Blubaugh exited after a two-out walk left two on and two out. He threw 13 strikes on 27 pitches and induced one whiff on nine swings.
Bryan King falters, Miguel Ullola delivers
King inherited Blubaugh's two runners in the first and stranded them. But the left-hander then created his own jam in the second. His first two hitters singled. King then struck Colson Montgomery, the No. 9 hitter for Chicago, on the shoulder with a two-strike pitch, loading the bases.
Antonacci made it hurt, lining a two-run single. Kyle Teel's single re-loaded the bases and chased King, still with nobody out in the inning.
Ullola, the rookie right-hander who recorded significant outs in September, entered and staged an escape against the 3-4-5 hitters in Chicago's lineup. Miguel Vargas' chopper produced a force-out at the plate. Ullola threw three fastballs by Murakami, then another by Andrew Benintendi for strike three.
The latter elicited a roar from the Daikin Park crowd and a burst of emotion from Ullola, who preserved the three-run deficit that could have been worse. Ullola worked two more innings, allowing one run on Montgomery's home run to center field in the fourth, and recording nine outs on 31 pitches.
Opener works for White Sox
Chicago also deployed an opener. Hagen Smith, a 23-year-old left-hander with 18 outings in the majors, drew the assignment. Smith posted a 1.29 ERA in his 28 regular-season innings. Chicago manager Will Venable indicated pregame that starting a left-hander partly reflected the presence of Yordan Alvarez.
"They're very right-handed up front but have a big hitter in the two-hole that we're concerned about," Venable said. "When you looked at that, plus just the environment, who is going to be able to handle this moment, plus the quality of pitcher that we wanted, Hagen was the choice."
Smith validated his club's confidence. He worked three scoreless innings, working around two runners, and retired Alvarez in both of their matchups.
Isaac Paredes lined a two-out single in the first inning and was stranded. Cam Smith singled to lead off the third inning and advanced to third with two outs. Alvarez stepped in. Venable, holding a three-run lead, let his lefty face him. Alvarez chased a low first-pitch slider for an inning-ending groundout.
Nelson Velázquez validates a move
In setting their roster for this series, the Astros left off LaMonte Wade Jr., who has served primarily as a left-handed pinch-hitter or corner outfield option. But they opted to carry Velázquez, who has held the same role from the right side of the plate.
Chicago carried four left-handed pitchers, including three relievers, which might have factored into the decision. One appeared in Tuesday's fifth inning.
After getting four outs from Jordan Hicks, Venable removed him for Sean Newcomb to face left-handed hitting Lucas Spence. Spence singled on a sharp grounder. Following a Cam Smith flyout, Espada sent in Velázquez to pinch-hit for left-handed Taylor Trammell.
It worked. Velázquez crushed a two-strike fastball over the Crawford Boxes, his two-run homer paring the Astros' deficit to 5-2.
White Sox limit Yordan Alvarez
Alvarez, the presumptive AL Most Valuable Player and most dangerous hitter in this series, took four at-bats. He faced a left-hander in the first three and grounded out each time. Smith retired him twice, and Newcomb bore a sinker in that induced a chopper in his third at-bat.
In the eighth, Alvarez came up against a right-hander, Taylor. Chicago opted to pitch to him with a four-run lead, one runner on base and one out. Alvarez lined a 98.3 mph fastball into right-center field for a single. Taylor then struck out Paredes and, after Altuve's hustle, Diaz to defuse the Astros' last threat.
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